Pollybell Farms and Flogas Britain have announced a strategic partnership to address a significant UK decarbonisation challenge: providing low-carbon, high-heat energy for the two million households and businesses reliant on off-grid LPG.
This collaboration combines Pollybell’s expertise in sustainable farming and integrated land-use systems with Flogas Britain’s role as a leading supplier of LPG and future low-carbon fuels. Together, they will explore the production and distribution of renewable dimethyl ether (rDME), a replacement for fossil LPG.
The partnership progresses through RePeat, a £2.4 million research and development project led by Pollybell Farm in collaboration with Flogas Britain and the University of Lincoln. RePeat has secured funding from Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, to investigate a new circular farming and fuel model integrating food production, renewable energy, and land-use change at the farm scale.
The project unites proven technologies to examine how English farmers can remain productive while responding to climate pressures, volatile markets, and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Central to RePeat is the development of an on-farm rDME production facility. Using farm-grown biomass as feedstock, the project will explore how renewable fuel production can coexist with commercial farming, while co-products such as heat and captured CO₂ are reused to support year-round food production. This approach demonstrates how agriculture can directly supply low-carbon fuels for rural and off-grid energy users.
The provenance of rDME through the RePeat system offers the opportunity to produce a fuel with significantly negative carbon intensity. This rDME can then be blended with LPG to create a low-carbon fuel, serving as a drop-in replacement for fossil LPG, usable within existing domestic and commercial infrastructure without disruptive changes to appliances.
Geoff Mullett, Business Development Manager — Fuels at Flogas Britain, stated: “This partnership with Pollybell is about starting from real-world challenges and solving them collaboratively. RePeat allows us to explore how renewable, farm-derived fuels like rDME could provide a credible, low-carbon alternative to LPG for rural homes and businesses. It’s a practical approach, grounded in working farms and existing energy systems.”
James Brown, Managing Director of Pollybell Farm, commented: “RePeat brings together farmers and industry, integrating technologies into a single farming system. The innovation lies in how these elements are connected to support sustainable food production, farm resilience, and lower-carbon fuels. This project is an exciting opportunity to diversify the range of crops we can offer our customers.”
