Kilowatts from corn silage - Austria's GL&A Holding invests EUR 14 million in biogas plant in Alibunar

After investing in Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria's GL&A Holding has decided to keep its focus on renewable sources of energy in the region by investing in our country. Namely, this company is building a biogas plant in Ilandza, worth EUR 14 million, which should be put into operation in early 2013.

Construction of this power plant, which will be generating about 24,000 MWh of electricity and 29,000 MWh of heat annually, kicked off in mid-2011 on a 11-hectare land lot.

- Construction of a 3 MW biogas power plant, that is, three 1 MW power plants, is currently underway. It is a technology that not only produces energy, but also a number of by-products. A total of EUR 14 million will be invested in the construction of these biogas power plants in the first phase, while another EUR 5 million will be later spent on greenhouses – Danko Vukovic from Belgrade-based Biogas Energy, the company that represents the Austrian investor, says to eKapija.

Almost every biodegradable material can be used as organic matter in the production of biogas. Power plants in Ilandza will be using corn silage and pig manure as basic substrates for biogas production.

Vukovic explains that silage is first placed in large primary digestors together with pig manure and then heated to 38 degrees Centigrade to initiate anaerobic processes in which bacteria, in the absence of oxygen, start degrading organic material. A by-product of this process is biogas containing about 60 percent of methane, carbon-dioxide and traces of other gases. The biogas obtained in this way is filtered to remove various sulfur ingredients, cooled and then combusted directly in a CHP (combined heat and power) system to generate both electricity and heat.

- What remains after the digestion process is mud, which is a quality fertilizer that is sold in the European market as a finished product, but there is no developed market for this product in our country. We've decided for the separation process in which liquid matter is separated from the solid one. Liquid matter is then sent to a final storage tank to be used in our irrigation system as a high-quality organic fertilizer with high percentage of nitrogen, whereas solid matter is processed into compost, that is, organic fertilizer. Austria's Compost System will build a composting plant that will be producing about 16,000 tonnes of compost per annum.

Biogas Energy has been producing corn silage on 800 hectares in the municipality of Alibunar for two years now.

- Part of the agricultural land is bought, while part is taken on rent. One of the reasons why we chose Ilandza is because this is where Agrostep's combine is situated, which cultivates and irrigates about 1,200 hectares of land. We can very easily exchange lots with them because the same plant cannot be grown on the same land for more than ten years - our interlocutor stresses and adds that farmers in that area will be offered to sell vegetable waste.

People at Biogas Energy says that their plant, which will be processing manure as well, will reduce the emission of carbon-dioxide by 32,000 tonnes.

- Given that it requires a different technology, the use of pig manure has increased our investment by 15 to 20 percent. Pig farms in Vladimirovac and Banatski Karlovac are causing a big problem by polluting subterranean waters and producing unbearable odour during the summer. These farms operate under a temporary license until they solve environmental problems. We are going to purchase, transport and process their entire production of manure at our plant and use it on our fields. This project is a reason why we are registered with CDM, a United Nations body helping pollution-reduction entities.

Danko Vukovic says that they have established an excellent cooperation with the Alibunar municipality, but he adds that the problem with licenses occurred on a higher level, so that Biogas Energy waited for more than a year to start the construction of a biogas plant.

- All preparations and designs were completed back in 2010, when we bought the land. It turned out that we must contact more than twenty different persons in order to get all required permits, which significantly extended our deadlines. We closed a turn-key deal with the contractor OAG Plannung, which merged with Germany's REHAU Energy Solutions in the meantime.

Heat for greenhouses

In the process of electricity generation, 3.6 MW of heat is produced as well. The aim of Biogas Energy is to utilize this energy to grow vegetables in greenhouses that will be situated on their land.

- Once the power plant reaches its full capacity, which we expect to happen next year, we will start building greenhouses on five hectares. The plan is to hire 55 people from the territory of Alibunar. What we are going to grow in these greenhouses depends on a feasibility study that will be designed by the company Certhon from the Netherlands.

People at Biogas Energy expect the validity of the Regulation on Incentives for Electricity Generation from Renewable Energy Sources, which is supposed to stay in effect until 1 January 2013, to be extended.

Suzana Obradovic