Argyll, Scotland-based firm Xanthella Ltd last week announced the start of a GBP-2-million (USD 2.8m/EUR 2.5m) two-year project, called Algal Solutions for Local Energy Economy (ASLEE). The Xanthella-led project has secured GBP 500,000 from the Scottish government’s Local Energy Challenge Fund to fund the first year of feasibility studies. If this is successful, an algal production facility will be built at Ardnamurchan, a remote area of Scotland, which Xanthella says will be the largest in the UK. The project will use surplus green electricity to power photobioreactors that will produce high-value products from algae, including liquid fuels. It will at the same time provide additional local use of electricity with the aim of removing grid constraints on the deployment of renewable capacity. According to the company, the process is ideal for combining with intermittent renewables generation as it can use the energy at times when it is abundant and cheap, and provide a grid balancing service at the same time.
SeeRenewables 13th June 2016 read more »