Göteborg Energi invests heavily in biogas
“We want to create a sustainable society and in that context we regard biogas as one of the most important energy sources of the future,” says Åsa Burman of Göteborg Energi. “That’s why we’re investing in having one of the world’s biggest and most modern biogas plants in operation by 2012.”
She is the manager of the project called GoBiGas and described it at a seminar at World Bioenergy 2010.
The plan is to have the first stage of the plant ready for operation in Ryahamnen harbour in Gothenburg by 2012.
“We’re waiting for an investment decision any day now,” she says. “”We hope and believe that it will be a ‘yes’ and then we will start work on the biogas plant this summer.”
The company plans to build the second stage during 2013 to 2015 with operational start-up scheduled for 2016.
“When the facility is complete our goal is to be able to produce biogas corresponding to 1 TWh, which is enough to fuel about 80,000 cars.”
Distribution via existing natural gas grid
“A big advantage of biogas is that we can use the existing natural gas grid for distribution.”
The GoBiGas project involves extracting biogas by the thermal gasification of forest raw materials such as branches, stumps and tops – known as slash. In the gasification plant the biofuel is turned into a combustible synthetic gas. This syngas is then purified and upgraded in a methanisation unit to turn it into biogas.
“It has a quality that is comparable to natural gas so it’s even possible to mix both types of gas in the same gas grid.”
Excess becomes district heating
At the Göteborg Energi stand at World Bioenergy we meet Lars Larsson. He expands on the company’s plans:
“Because biogas is produced from renewable sources it doesn’t contribute to the increased carbon dioxide emissions like fossil fuels do. We will have a high efficiency production plant. We will also recover the excess heat and add it to the local district heating network.”
In the longer term he also perceives other advantages:
“The plant will be a natural platform for developing technology and products in the fields of gasification, gas purification and methanisation. And it will create many new jobs.”
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