Pellet from Doroslov for European market - Bridge Power Investments from Czech Republic and the Holo family to open EUR 12.5 million factory

After seven months of works, a EUR 12.5 million factory for producing agripellets has been completed in the Sombor area. The Czech company Bridge Power Investments and the Holo family from Doroslov joined forces to build one of the most modern and largest factories to produce pellets for EU countries.

In a talk with eKapija, Robert Holo, co-owner of the factory, points out that they have built Europe's largest pellet factory in Doroslov, with the annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes.

- Farmers usually burn plant remains and inflict damage on fields in that way, or collect and bale such remains, which then take up much space. I gave this problem a little thought and came up with an idea to try to utilize plant remains from fields to produce pellets. We needed a partner for this project and decided to enter into a partnership with the Czech company Bridge Power Investments. The factory is equipped with the best technology, everything is automated, and its daily capacity amounts to 300 tonnes. We now only wait for the factory to be connected to the electric grid so we could start production in December 2012 or January 2013 at the latest - our interlocutor explains.

In order to achieve full capacity, the factory will operate in three shifts. It will employ 50 workers in the first phase, after which another 25 people will get a job at the facility in Doroslov.

Holo stresses that the factory will benefit the entire Sombor area and neighboring municipalities because farmers will finally be able to sell plant remains they collect from their fields.

- We as a family co-own this factory and plan to provide it with complete logistics support. We have already started collecting biomass from fields with our machines. The factory will be primarily processing corncobs and soybean straw. Next year, when production starts, agricultural producers will be able to transport bales of straw or other biomass to the factory to have them measured and purchased.

The original idea was to market all pellets from this factory abroad. However, companies from Serbia as well have expressed a great interest in using biomass products to generate heat.

- Most of the production will be exported to the European Union and sold mainly to heating and power plants. My wish was to market the products from our factory in Serbia too. The companies we buy plant remains from were the first to show interest in buying these pellets. Among those interested are also large companies that now have no single supplier to buy the required amount of pellets from, but must request this fuel from several manufacturers instead - says Robert Holo.

Construction of landing place in the pipeline

Pellets from the factory in Doroslovo will be transported via the Danube River. As Holo announced, the plan is to build a docking facility on the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal.

- As of spring 2013, products will be loaded directly from the factory onto barges at the dock and then transported via the canal and the Danube to European countries.

S.O.