Electricity operator National Grid believes that with the right Government incentives, renewable gas could be produced from our waste and fed straight into the mains.

Less than a year after announcing that up to half the UK's homes could be heated with renewably generated 'biogas' derived from food waste, National Grid has unveiled a bold plan for how the gas could be produced on a local level.

In a new report released today, the grid operator sets out how a series of 'Urban Energy Centres' could take delivery of separated food and household waste.

The food waste would be fed straight into an anaerobic digester, which breaks down the sludge to produce a methane-rich gas and a nutrient-rich liquid slurry, that can be used as an agricultural fertiliser....

National Grid calculates that 10 plants could deal with all of London's waste, reducing CO2 emissions by some 146,365 tonnes a year by displacing fossil natural gas.

However, although the report calculates that the Energy Centres would make better economic sense than incinerators (costing £62.50 per megawatt hour of energy produced, as opposed £110.25 per megawatt hour of energy from an incinerator), the Grid's executives believe that the project will not succeed unless the Government introduces promised financial incentives.

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