Fernbrook Anaerobic Digestion Facility
 Kettering, UK

The Fernbrook Anaerobic Digester and Biogas Plant is a state-of-the-art food waste anaerobic digestion facility in Kettering, England. The facility produces renewable energy by recycling more than 100,000 metric tonnes of commercial and municipal organic waste every year. Thanks to recent investments, Fernbrook now has the capacity to produce up to 13,883 MWh of renewable electricity and 2.3 MMBTUs of fossil fuel free biomethane-all while diverting food waste from landfills.

The Fernbrook Digester was commissioned in 2010, completed in 2016, and purchased by Generate Upcycle in 2021. Since acquiring the plant, Generate Upcycle has invested more than £19 million in expanding and upgrading the facility to increase its capacity to provide more local renewable energy to the Kettering community. Our investments at the plant also included a new odour control system and fast-acting door system to reduce the likelihood of odours leaving the site.

During the expansion, Generate Upcycle added two new anaerobic digester tanks that use a biogas upgrading system capable of injecting 2.3 MMBTUs per year of renewable natural gas into the grid. The upgrading unit lets Fernbrook blend biomethane to grid-injection specifications onsite, and Fernbrook is in the process of attaining Stage 3 Accreditation for GGSS as a biomethane producer.

The new digesters, completed in 2025, complement upgrades to the two existing digester tanks, which power a 1.5 MW electric generator. The plant is now able to take more than 100,000 metric tonnes of local food waste annually from domestic and commercial sources and convert it through the natural, biological process of wet anaerobic digestion into enough renewable energy to heat 11,000 homes in the U.K. for a year.

Generate Upcycle proudly works in partnership with the Northamptonshire Council as part of a three-year agreement to recycle local food waste into renewable energy, creating a sustainable, circular economy in the Northamptonshire region.