Green gas plant's eco claims questioned as councillors admit concerns village of Fearn will be deluged by more than 14,000 HGV trips annually to the plant next to Glenmorangie warehouses as developer Acorn Energy insists it 'will help the Highlands transition towards a net zero future by reducing its carbon emissions'
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Questions have been raised over whether a proposed green energy development in Easter Ross really will be as environmentally friendly as is hoped amid concerns about more than 14,000 heavy vehicle journeys a year.
Acorn Energy aims to establish an anaerobic digestion plant which uses biological processes to break down organic materials that are then converted into gas for heating and transport.
The company has earmarked a site at Fearn and submitted a Planning Advance Notice indicating it will apply for full planning permission within 12 weeks. If granted, work could start early in 2023.
Local community meetings have already flagged concerns and questions are being asked over the sheer volume of traffic, its proximity to Glenmorangie warehousing facilities and the 40 miles to deliver the produced gas to the grid.
Energy plant proposal for Easter Ross flagged up with Highland Council
Acorn says the plant will have a generating capacity of 100GW per year and during its operational lifetime will have an average carbon saving equivalent of taking more than 17,000 cars off the road or planting one million trees.
It said: “The plant at Fearn will help the Highlands transition towards a net zero future by reducing its carbon emissions, and realise the Highland Council’s ambitions of becoming carbon neutral by 2025 and having the lowest carbon footprint of any local authority in Scotland.
“The plant will help Scotland by ensuring energy security, and help the diesel-dependent HGV industry go green by providing a ready fuel solution for HGVs.
“The plant will produce green CO2, which Acorn will sell locally to food and drink manufacturers, glass houses and other customers. This will benefit local businesses by adding a more local choice in the region.”
The plant and infrastructure include: biogas upgrading and CO2 recovery unit; feed hopper; grid entry unit; heat exchanger; chiller; CO2 tanks; rainwater lagoon; silage clamps; digestate storage lagoons and a gas flare.
A meeting of the north planning applications committee allowed councillors to raise issues before seeing the full application.
Derek Louden (Tain and Easter Ross) said: “There are 14,252 large vehicle movements mentioned in the scoping report and... I am interested in the cumulative effect on the village of Fearn. I am wondering about the separation between Glenmorangie’s warehousing and the flare that is proposed at the gas plant so I would like some reassurance that you can have a flare next to a series of whisky warehouses.
“We are called on to make the best use of natural assets for communities and in this case there are two ways of looking at this. I would really like to see an economic impact assessment.
“There are likely to be winners and losers from this development and I think it is important that this is scoped out and when members in any subsequent application are fully aware that this development will have on Tain and Easter Ross.”
He says an environmental impact assessment is needed given so many heavy vehicle movements.
He said: “Usually anaerobic digesters are located next to the gas grid but this development is 40 miles away from where the developer intends for the gas to enter the grid so all of that will have to go by road.”
