End of year reflections: Agrivert and Chiltern Solar

Agrivert designs, builds and operates anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities to generate biogas that can easily be upgraded to biomethane. Our engineering and operational experts can support developers, investors and owners of biogas plants with build projects, acquisition decisions, performance enhancement, upgrades and expansions. We are technology agnostic and work with a wide range of feedstocks, giving customers the best opportunity to maximise value.

Chiltern Solar works with domestic and commercial clients to design, install and optimise their Solar PV and battery systems.

To ensure that we stay on top of the latest news and technology developments in our industries, both the AD and Solar teams have attended several conferences and exhibitions this year, including those in the UK, Ireland, Brussels, Denmark, Italy, Poland and Germany. In July 2025, we will once again have a stand at the World Biogas Association exhibition at the NEC and hope to see many industry colleagues there.

At the ADBA conference earlier this month, ADBA launched their “Role of Green Gas in Net Zero” report. This highlighted the disparity in ambition between the UK and EU governments in setting biomethane targets. The report also evidences the clear benefits that biomethane brings to achieving net zero, including:

• It is cheaper and quicker to deliver than other technologies (eg, nuclear).

• It provides baseload energy to the grid.

• It can be distributed using existing grid infrastructure.

It is also interesting to note that adding biomethane to the gas mix can result in a reduced need to abate natural gas — while still achieving net zero! Our new UK government has a real opportunity to support the biogas industry in the quest for net zero by, for example, incentivising build and expansion projects and improving the planning process.

We will be launching our updated branding and a new, interactive website for Chiltern Solar imminently, offering a much better experience for our customers. Alongside this, we will soon introduce financing options for our Solar customers, both commercial and domestic, to ensure that everyone can benefit from the Chiltern Solar service while spreading the payments. This has involved a lot of hard work over the past few months for our sales and marketing team to get the design and messaging just right.

Our Beacon partnership, which we formed with Low Carbon and announced earlier this year to develop and build a platform of AD biomethane assets in Europe, has had a great start. We have identified projects in Poland and Italy and are working hard with Low Carbon and our in-country developers to obtain the necessary consents, aiming to start construction sometime next year.

In both AD and Solar, we are planning for — and expecting — new opportunities and strong growth in the year ahead. To prepare, our engineering, design and installation teams have received essential training and improved processes. The need for investment in renewable energy could not be clearer and the time to act is now. Agrivert and Chiltern Solar are ready.

Of course, AD is a 24/7/365 business and our operational teams in the UK and in Hong Kong will be working throughout Christmas and the New Year to keep the plants running and biogas production high. We hope for a trouble-free period for them.

In closing, we want to thank our clients for their belief in Agrivert and Chiltern Solar, our suppliers for working with us and our wonderful team for all their hard work, sweat, and perseverance this year. We look forward to doing it all again next year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!