Andrew Turner, MP for the Isle of Wight, visited Southern Water’s Sandown Wastewater Treatment Works on Friday.
Mr Turner was invited to see the new £700,000 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant that has been installed at the works.
The CHP plant generates electricity by capturing and burning biogas produced as part of the treatment process. This gas provides power and heat to the works, with any surplus exported to the National Grid.
The site is capable of generating 2.5GWh of electricity, enough to power 750 average-sized homes.
Mr Turner said:
“I was impressed to see Southern Water investing significant money into green technology at Sandown.
“Generating electricity from the treatment process is a fantastic way of helping the environment while providing an essential, and often taken for granted, service to the people of the Island.”
Martin Ross, Southern Water’s Carbon Reduction Manager, said:
“We were delighted to welcome Mr Turner to Sandown and pleased he was so impressed with the new CHP plant.
“At Southern Water we work hard to ensure our operations have a minimal effect on the environment and reducing our carbon footprint by introducing technologies like this are a great way to do that.”
The CHP plant, which is being installed by Southern Water supplier Cogenco, is undergoing its final testing phase this week.
Sandown Wastewater Treatment Works serves more than 138,000 people across the north of the Island, cleaning flows of about 840 litres a second.
