A lightning strike at 7.20pm last night which hit an anaerobic digestion tank at Severn Trent Green Power’s AD facility in Cassington, Oxfordshire caused the gases within it to ignite and explode, resulting in a huge fireball.
Emergency services spent the night tackling the fire and are still present at the site this morning.
Following the explosion, an initial statement issued by Severn Trent Green Power last night said:
"This evening a digester tank at our Cassington facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, has been struck by lightning which has caused an explosion in our biogas tanks.
"Thankfully no one has been hurt and we are working with the emergency services to make sure the site is safe so that we can assess the damage as soon as possible."
In an update published this morning the company thanked the emergency services for their work overnight to contain and lead the incident at Cassington. A spokesperson said that keeping its teams and the local community safe has been of paramount importance, adding:
"We will continue to work with the emergency services who are still on site as we assess the damage and while the fire is out, we urge people not to come to the site today."
The Cassington AD plant is home to Severn Trent Green Power's long term contract with Oxfordshire County Council. It also processes commercial food wastes, including packaged goods. The facility processes over 50,000 tonnes of solid and liquid waste each year, generating 2.1MW of electricity and producing bio-fertiliser.
Severn Trent Green Power’s portfolio of assets includes nine Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and five composting facilities. In 2022 the company exported around 270 GWH of renewable energy in the form of electricity and gas to grid, making its AD facilities the largest producers of renewable energy from food waste in the UK.
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