On 22 April 2015, Denmark’s largest biogas plant construction, Sønderjysk Biogas, was kicked off. The development of the plant is a result of a joint venture between E.On Denmark and the suppliers association SBI A/S, which together have invested DKK 250 million.

The biogas plant is a high-tech system primarily using slurry, residues from straw and to a lesser extent other organic raw materials for biogas production. The 160,000 square metres plant will annually treat 600,000 tonnes of biomass, of which slurry will constitute 450 tonnes.

On an annual basis, Sønderjysk Biogas will send 21 million cubic metres methane into the natural gas grid, which is equivalent to 10,000 cars’ annual consumption, if they were running on biogas. As a result, the biogas from the plant will benefit the entire of Denmark when fed into the Danish energy system.

Related news: Increased Amounts of Biogas in Natural Gas Grid

Reaching climate goals
The plant represents an important contribution to achieving the political objective of becoming fossil-fuel independent by 2050, as well as to treat half of Danish slurry in biogas plants.

Also, it contributes to reaching the goal to have 10% of the energy in the transport sector coming from renewable energy by 2020, especially when the biogas is used for heavier transport. In fact, the produced biogas will, if deployed in the transport sector as a substitute for petrol and diesel, account for a CO2 reduction of 51,000 tonnes.   

- Sønderjysk Biogas shows the way to transform our energy system to be 100% based on renewable energy. Biogas production from waste products, such as slurry and straw, creates high-value energy, while we get a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. The project is one of several positive signs that biogas production is now starting to take off, says Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Rasmus Petersen in a press release, in connection to the construction kick off.

Source: Sønderjysk Biogas