A £22.5million biogas facility in South Lanarkshire which will turn waste into sufficient energy to power 2,800 homes has been given the green light.
Planning permission has been granted for the first phase of Proactive Energy's M74 Eco-Park development which will be capable of producing five megawatts of electricity.
As Scotland's first "green" commercial and industrial park and the UK's biggest biogas facility, it is aiming to become operational in early 2011 with an environmentally-friendly process converting organic waste into electricity which will in turn be supplied to the National Grid.
Ron Coakley, Director of Proactive Energy, said: "We're absolutely delighted that our anaerobic digestion facility has been given the go-ahead.
"Our total commitment to a cleaner and safer environment is supported by our initial £22.5 million investment. This demonstrates our ambition and vision for providing state-of-the-art and cost effective waste disposal solutions with huge environmental spin-offs."
In line with Scottish Government policy Proactive Energy will help customers reduce the amount of organic waste being sent to landfill and provide cost-effective, ecologically sustainable, optimum waste solutions that fully comply with statutory guidelines.
Mr Coakley added: "By-products of our process becomes a high quality natural fertiliser that can be used on local farms. Thermal energy, another by-product can be used to heat the premises of neighbouring Eco-Park occupiers as well as being utilised by cold storers and companies that require extreme heat in their manufacturing processes."
Councillor Graham Scott, chair of the Planning Committee which approved the proposal, said: "This is an exciting plan, and one of the most unique we have seen at this committee. As an alternative to landfill it is in itself to be welcomed, but the developer's commitment to recycling and re-use across the facility is genuinely admirable."
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, added: "Biogas offers a great opportunity to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce waste to landfill.
"There has been a strong focus on renewable electricity but we also need to look at how we heat our homes and businesses if we are to meet our target of meeting 11% of our heat demand from renewables by 2020.
"Scottish households throw away some 570,000 tonnes of food every year, and we need to look at how we can convert this to energy through technologies such as biogas and biofuels."
