John Laing Environmental Assets has acquired its fifth anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. The fund entered the AD market last August and now has 25MW, accounting for almost tenth of its renewable energy asset base.
The company has indicated it will target AD in the hunt for better yields in the face of rising competition in secondary wind and solar markets.
The latest addition is the 5MW Merlin AD plant in Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire. JLEN paid £18.1m, in line with its previous two purchases (Egmere Energy and Grange Farm Energy, both 5MW, for around £36m in total).
The Merlin plant predominantly produces biomethane for grid injection from energy crops. It has a 0.5MW CHP engine and so qualifies for both feed-in tariff (Fit) and renewable heat incentive (RHI) subsidies. It is also stepping up production.
The acquisition takes JLEN’s renewables investment portfolio to 274.2MW.
As with its other AD deals, Future Biogas Limited will continue to provide management, operations and maintenance services to the AD plants after the acquisition.
Related stories:
JLEN continues AD buying spree
Investors eye AD subsidies as power price predictions fall
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