WELtec BioPower GmbH, headquartered in Vechta, Lower Saxony, has announced the sale of two biogas plants to France. This successful market entry was achieved with the assistance of its sales partner Domaix Énergie in Albens, France.
The biogas plant that is being built in Gruffy, a village in the French département Haute-Savoie in the Rhône-Alpes region, will run a 104 kW combined heat and power plant(CHP) with a 28,250 sq ft fermenter and separator.
In this predominantly agricultural village, operator Marcel Domenge will feed the fermenter with solid manure and cattle manure. Additionally, industrial waste from regional plants will be sent to the plant. The WELtec plant will be commissioned in May. Among other things, bakery waste, vegetable leftovers, and other biomass residue will be used. "We are going to disperse the digestate on our farm's growing area, thereby saving the cost of purchasing and transporting fertiliser", says Marcel Domenge.
The plant will boast an efficiency of more than 75 percent, as the CHP will supply part of the village with heat over an installed local heat network.
In late January, WELtec BioPower GmbH received the order for the second farm plant, also in the Rhône-Alpes region. The construction activities for the plant with a 46,260 sq ft fermenter, which will be built in Esserts-Blay, will start in March. The plant will be commissioned in summer.
In Esserts-Blay, too, the biogas yield will be increased by adding co-ferments that are rich in nutrients and easily degradable. In addition to cattle manure and solid manure, operator Claude Mercier will use whey from the farm's own cheese dairy as substrate.
An increase in the number of orders from France is evident especially in the field of small agricultural plants with waste co-fermentation. In this way, French farmers spread their risk, as other substances can also be fermented in the plant. In view of the fact that the agricultural growing area in France is larger than in Germany and therefore resources are more readily available, this development is surprising.
Thanks to the use of the heat in the cheese dairy, this plant, too, will have an efficiency of about 75 percent. In France, this added efficiency is honoured: a premium of 3 c/kWh is added to the basic feed-in price of 9 c/kWh if the heat of the combined heat and power plant is utilised.
In France, the feed-in act requires the state to purchase power from biogas plants at a guaranteed price. However, energy from renewable sources does not enjoy priority in the electricity network.
This is one of the reasons why the French biogas plant population is still small:According to information provided by the agricultural regeneration association Solagro in Toulouse, at the end of January 2008 there were 100 plants that fermented industrial wastewater, six waste plants, ten agricultural biogas plants, 60 sludge plants, and 4 landfill gas plants with a total power output of 100 MW.
The biogas plant that is being built in Gruffy, a village in the French département Haute-Savoie in the Rhône-Alpes region, will run a 104 kW combined heat and power plant(CHP) with a 28,250 sq ft fermenter and separator.
In this predominantly agricultural village, operator Marcel Domenge will feed the fermenter with solid manure and cattle manure. Additionally, industrial waste from regional plants will be sent to the plant. The WELtec plant will be commissioned in May. Among other things, bakery waste, vegetable leftovers, and other biomass residue will be used. "We are going to disperse the digestate on our farm's growing area, thereby saving the cost of purchasing and transporting fertiliser", says Marcel Domenge.
The plant will boast an efficiency of more than 75 percent, as the CHP will supply part of the village with heat over an installed local heat network.
In late January, WELtec BioPower GmbH received the order for the second farm plant, also in the Rhône-Alpes region. The construction activities for the plant with a 46,260 sq ft fermenter, which will be built in Esserts-Blay, will start in March. The plant will be commissioned in summer.
In Esserts-Blay, too, the biogas yield will be increased by adding co-ferments that are rich in nutrients and easily degradable. In addition to cattle manure and solid manure, operator Claude Mercier will use whey from the farm's own cheese dairy as substrate.
An increase in the number of orders from France is evident especially in the field of small agricultural plants with waste co-fermentation. In this way, French farmers spread their risk, as other substances can also be fermented in the plant. In view of the fact that the agricultural growing area in France is larger than in Germany and therefore resources are more readily available, this development is surprising.
Thanks to the use of the heat in the cheese dairy, this plant, too, will have an efficiency of about 75 percent. In France, this added efficiency is honoured: a premium of 3 c/kWh is added to the basic feed-in price of 9 c/kWh if the heat of the combined heat and power plant is utilised.
In France, the feed-in act requires the state to purchase power from biogas plants at a guaranteed price. However, energy from renewable sources does not enjoy priority in the electricity network.
This is one of the reasons why the French biogas plant population is still small:According to information provided by the agricultural regeneration association Solagro in Toulouse, at the end of January 2008 there were 100 plants that fermented industrial wastewater, six waste plants, ten agricultural biogas plants, 60 sludge plants, and 4 landfill gas plants with a total power output of 100 MW.
