This arrangement represents another
consistent step towards reliable energy supply
along with a high degree of energy efficiency
and ecological sustainability. Besides providing
new jobs, the plant will also form the basis for
new regional value chains.
The biogas will undergo chemical treatment
(amine treatment) to ensure a very high
biomethane quality. The generated biomethane
will be sufficient to supply 7,000 households with electricity and heat
or to power 6,000 cars with an annual mileage of about 18,000
miles.
12
N A T I O N A L F A R M E R e m a i l : e d i t o r i a l @ n a t i o n a l f a r m e r . n e t
Januar y/Febr uar yA LT E R N AT I V E E N E R G Y
I
n the second quarter of 2010, WELtec
BioPower will start building one of Europe's
largest biogas plants in Arneburg, Stendal
district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. From 2011
on, more than 350 million cubic feet of
biomethane (more than 35,000 cubit feet/hour)
will be produced every year in six fermenters,
four digestate storage units, and one liquid
reservoir, and will be fed into the natural gas
grid. WELtec BioPower GmbH is the general contractor, and
NordMethan Produktion Arneburg GmbH is the investor and
operator.
"With this large plant, a total investment of approximately EUR
21 million, whose turnkey handover will take place in the Arneburg
industrial zone in February 2011, we also create ten permanent jobs
and two training positions", says Jens Albartus, Director of WELtec
BioPower GmbH.
The concept of the biogas park, which will be erected at a 10-
hectare (25-acre) site, comprises the use of renewable raw materials
and manure from 30 farmers who will need to travel no more than
9.3 miles, on average, to deliver the substrates. Moreover, the
digestate accumulating at the plant will be used by the farmers.
WELtec BioPower Builds Biogas
Park in Arneburg, Generating Jobs
�1.4BILLION BOOST FOR THE
UK'S WIND SECTOR
T
he European Investment
Bank (EIB), have
announced the
availability of a �1.4 billion
loan fund for UK onshore
wind farms.
As part of its remit to
support renewable energy in
Europe, the EIB will provide
�700 million, a sum which will
be match funded by by three
banks - the Royal Bank of
Scotland, Lloyds Banking
Group and BNP Paribas Fortis.
The scheme, which is being
backed by the Treasury and
Department of Energy and Climate Change, will provide
loans of between �20 million and �100 million for small and
medium-sized onshore wind projects over the next three
years.
The slow rate with which the UK's wind energy sector
has been expanding has attracted plenty of criticism, a
situation that has not been helped by the recession which
has seen many projects unable to get off the ground due to
a lack of available funding. As a result the arrival of this
funding stream is particularly welcome and could increase
the UK's renewable energy output significantly.
Ed Miliband, energy and climate change secretary, said:
"The UK now has 4GW of wind capacity and the pace of
installation is picking up. But we still need a 6-fold increase
in renewables by 2020 to hit our renewables target. That
target is vital if we are to be on course to cutting emissions
by 80 per cent by 2050.
"So we need to pull out the stops, including making sure
the capital is there to build the wind farms in the first place.
This partnership of the EIB with RBS, BNP Paribas Fortis and
Lloyds Banking group will
address that problem."
Article supplied by David Rees
of the Environment Centre

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32 Produced by PageSuite