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1st biomethane plant in Baltics to be set up at Kunda for EUR 3.5 mln

BC, Tallinn, 13.06.2016.Print version
Greengas Energy OU, a locally owned company, and the aspen pulp producer Estonian Cell AS have signed a long-term purchase and sale agreement whereby the first ever unit for the production of biomethane in the Baltic countries will be set up at Kunda for an investment of approximately 3.5 million euros, informs LETA/BNS.

Greengas Energy is planning to produce 6-7 million cubic meters of biomethane per year, which is comparable with the amount used annually by buses operating urban services in Narva, Tartu and Parnu, the company said.

 

"Financed by Greengas Energy OU, construction of the production unit will start this year and the first output will be released into the gas network in 2017," Greengas Energy board member Marko Tiiman said.

 

Tiiman described the unit's planned annual output capacity as remarkable also on the European Union scale, and said that besides the investment will help to meet Estonia's renewable energy goals in the transport sector.

 

Biomethane will be produced at the new facility from biogas supplied by Estonian Cell. The latter produced more than three million cubic meters of biomethane in the first five months of this year.

 

"So far, we have used the biogas produced by us in our own production process. At the time of breaks we have let some of the valuable biogas just burn in the air. The biomethane production unit will allow to utilize all of the biogas we get," Estonian Cell board member Siiri Lahe said.

 

"We hope that potential consumers will be encouraged by this to switch to biomethane and to apply for support from open support measures in collaboration with the Environmental Investment Center," Ando Leppiman, deputy secretary general for energy and construction at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, said.

 

Greengas Energy was advised in the transaction by the Glimstedt law office, which is helping to draft legislation necessary for developing the project in the production of biomethane. The legal partner to Estonian Cell was Raidla Ellex.

 

The aspen pulp mill of Estonian Cell in the town of Kunda on Estonia's North Coast went into operation in 2006. Its sales in 2015 totaled 78 million euros.

 

Estonian Cell began the production of biogas in 2014 and is the biggest producer of biogas in Estonia now. The calorific value of the biogas produced by the company is approximately 50 gigawatt-hours a year.






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