A water company is using an unusual source to generate power – poo.

Southern Water is now harnessing poo power to generate electricity for 1,500 homes at the Bexhill and Hastings wastewater treatment works.

The project is part of the company’s multimillion pound investment in carbon mitigation and energy efficiency schemes between 2010 and 2015.

These will help Southern Water reduce its carbon emissions and contribute to its target of generating 20 per cent of its energy usage from renewable sources by 2020.

Southern Water has invested more than £1 million on a new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at the works to capture bio-gas created during the treatment process.

This gas, which would otherwise have been burnt off in a flare, is now being used to produce renewable energy – providing power and heat to the works, with any surplus exported to the National Grid.

Generating electricity through poo power in this way will enable Southern Water to reduce its carbon emissions from the site by approximately 3,000 tonnes a year.

'Poo power'

The site is capable of generating enough electricity to power 1,500 average sized homes.

As well as generating electricity, the CHP plant also recovers heat from the engine and exhaust systems via water from heat exchangers.

This water is then used to warm the treatment tanks, helping speed up the bacterial digestion of the waste.

Morné Cloete, Southern Water project manager, said: “I’m sure people in Bexhill and Hastings are delighted that they are helping us minimise the environmental impact of our business, dealing with their business, by generating electricity with poo power.

Poo power has already been implemented at 13 of southern Water’s wastewater treatment works through the use of CHP plants.