ROTTING rubbish on Oxfordshire waste dumps is being used to generate power for thousands of homes.
A mini-power station near Sutton Courtenay run by ARC (Greenways Waste Management) will sell enough electricity to Southern Electric to supply 7,000 homes.
French company Sita, at Alkerton, near Banbury, plans to generate 0.9 megawatts, also using methane gas produced by rotting rubbish. It is applying for planning permission to build a plant to convert Cherwell district's rubbish to energy.
ARC spokesman David Harding said: "We already have permission to produce six megawatts from landfill gas at Sutton Courtenay and are seeking permission to produce seven."
Nationwide, ARC is the largest waste-to-energy supplier in the country, producing 48 megawatts.
The Sutton Courtenay plant, now receiving a £3m investment boost, will use rubbish from Oxfordshire and also waste that arrives from London daily by train. Its two kilometres of pipeline will produce energy for the next 15 years.
Sita, which already produces nine megawatts at its site at Packington, near Coventry, will sell electricity from its Alkerton site to the Midlands Electrictity Board. The schemes are included in a list of renewable energy ideas announced by Energy and Industry minister John Battle.
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