WELtec BioPower Builds First Biogas Plant in Finland

Vechta-based WELtec BioPower GmbH received an order for the establishment of a biogas plant from a Finnish farmer who will produce biogas in cooperation with a waste disposal provider. The 600-kW plant will be erected in Niittylahti in south-east Finland.

In 2010, the biogas plant will start up with the two fermenters. Every year, the tanks with capacities of 105,944 and 37,787 cu ft, respectively, will be fed with a total of 20,000 t of cattle manure, waste, and sludge. One special technical feature of the plant is the integrated unpacking and grinding facility.
Before the substrates are transferred to the dosing feeder, packages and food are separated from each other, as plastic waste is not allowed to enter the plant. Moreover, abattoir waste must first be ground. At the end of the process, the digestate resulting from the biowaste, which can be used as fertiliser, is heated to about 70°C in a hygienisation unit. The produced biogas is sold and not converted to electricity on site, as Finland has not yet determined the feed-in tariffs for electricity generated at decentralised plants.

Accordingly, the number of plants is limited: in late 2007, there were 60 active biogas plants, including 33 landfill gas, 14 sewage gas, 6 agricultural biogas, and 4 waste fermentation plants. In 2008, another two co-fermentation plants were commissioned, and ten plants were either in the construction stage or in the planning stage. The combined electrical output of all biogas plants in 2008 amounted to about 30 MW.
Though a share of approximately 22 percent of Finland’s energy is already generated from renewable sources, Finland’s per-capita greenhouse gas emission of 16 t CDE is still one of the world’s highest. This was an important reason for the Finns’ commitment in the Kyoto Protocol to keep their greenhouse gas emissions steady by 2012, measured against the base year of 1990. The objective of the Finnish action plan is to produce 1.17 TWh of regenerative energy by 2010 and to push this figure up to 2.2 TWh by 2025.