Over 150 residents gathered to learn more about proposals for an innovative energy plant a Swindon enterprise aims to establish near them.
Rivan Industries currently operates a pilot of its technology at Wroughton Science and Technology Park, which produces renewable methane gas from limestone, water, and electricity. The firm is weeks away from submitting a full application to construct its inaugural operational facility on a verdant plot along Little Rose Lane, northwest of Blunsdon.
This pioneering plant would house up to 15 shipping containers filled with the specialised equipment, complemented by a solar panel array to power the operation.
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Rivan hosted two events: an exclusive session for neighbourhood residents and another open day for public inquiry, generating a turnout of roughly 130 to 140 locals at the first and slightly fewer attendees at the latter.
Amidst the busy query session, Rivan's Head of Planning, Annabel MacGregor, spoke with the Local Democrat Reporting Service, sharing concerns raised: "People are interested in how it all works, but they are also concerned about traffic on the road and why we want to put it on a green field in the country.
"To be honest we'd love to be on an industrial estate next to a carbon-dioxide producer, because that's something we need for the process, but we are a new company and we don't have a huge choice about who will lease us a site.
"We want to show people that we are taking their concerns seriously – we will have a construction traffic management plan in place, and we will manage that on the lane.
"And after a short construction period of six months, it's all self-contained. All it will need is visits from engineers in one car."
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Highworth Town Council member, Cllr Ken Saunders, who attended the second event, commented: "I'd like to see the details of all the plans in the full application, especially the environmental impact assessment – although the field it will be sited on looks like is a single crop or grazing.
"I think it sounds like a good idea if they can make it work – the push for all-electric sounds nice, but I don't think it works, you need a fallback. If this can be done at scale. It could be very good."
Another attendee, Richard Parry, shared his thoughts: "I was interested to hear that once it's all running, they won't need to be shipping in raw materials. I don't really understand how it works, but I asked how much limestone they'd need to be trucked in, but they said that all the water will be on site and the containers will have all the limestone needed from day one.
"If things like traffic and the land are managed properly, and the technology works it could be really good that it started here."
A comprehensive planning application is anticipated in June.
The pioneering technology involves heating limestone to release carbon dioxide. In a separate process, hydrogen is extracted from water collected on-site.
Processing the carbon dioxide and hydrogen together results in methane gas, which Rivan asserts can be directly injected into the national gas grid.
The firm maintains that if approved, the Blunsdon site would showcase the first practical demonstration of this technology, which it believes could offset millions of tonnes of carbon emissions from fossil fuel gas usage.