A £56 million investment has helped to increase the renewable energy being generated by Yorkshire Water by nearly 80%.

The substantial improvement is helping the company to generate an expected 75 gigawatt hours this year. 

Treating more sludge than ever is one of the main reasons for the surge in renewable energy being generated by Yorkshire Water; 97,000 tonnes are now being dealt with at the company’s key “top 11” sites dotted around the region, an increase of 48% in the last year.

Methane gas is captured from the sludge as part of the process so it can be used to create a biofuel which can be burnt to generate power.

As well as making major £33 million and £23 million investments respectively in Esholt waste water treatment works in Bradford and Blackburn Meadows treatment works in Sheffield, significant sums have been dedicated to improving facilities at other sites.

Upgrades have been made to settlement tanks and the screens used to remove objects from the waste that arrives at site. Incineration of sludge has also been further reduced as a result of the investments.

The figure is expected to help Yorkshire Water reduce its carbon footprint by nearly 15,000 tonnes and simultaneously reduce the cost of powering its sites around the region.

Richard Flint, Yorkshire Water Chief Executive, said:

“This is a big step in the right direction for us, not only are we reducing our impact on the environment but also cutting down on power costs at the same time."

“Our investment in state of the art sites like Blackburn Meadows and Esholt will also stand us in good stead for decades to come, also reducing the amount of money we’ll need to invest in maintenance and improvements.”