MEC-Biogas is one of Denmark’s first large-scale industrial biogas plants that today converts around 500,000 tons of manure yearly to raw biogas for power and heat production. CIP expects to increase the total yearly capacity of sustainable biomass to approximately 800,000 tons, and to furthermore develop new business models for the plant, including around 30m Nm3 upgraded biogas to be injected into the gas grid and approximately 40,000 tons biogenic CO2 for the PtX industry.
The plant, which is located close to Måbjergværket in Holstebro, is predominantly owned by the municipally owned utility companies Struer Energi and Vestforsyning.
CIP believes that bioenergy projects must be locally anchored, both in terms of their position in the local community, and also in terms of contributing to the development of the agricultural sector and its routes for future decarbonization. As a result of the new investment, CIP expects to create growth and additional jobs in the local community with a solid foundation in the local agricultural sector.
”Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are looking forward to cooperating with existing and new partners in the local community to create a center for Danish bioenergy. We continue to see a large potential in the efficient conversion of sustainable biomass to green gas and green fuels - and we believe that advanced bioenergy is going to play a vital role in the green transition, and especially in the transportation sector.
"The acquisition and expansion of MEC-biogas with our local partners, Struer Energi and Vestforsyningen, represents an important milestone, and we view it as one of our main projects in the Advanced Bioenergy Fund. We are looking forward to realizing the project, which will significantly contribute to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and create local jobs,” says Andreas F. Brandt, partner at CIP.
Beyond the already planned investments, CIP is looking at future expansion possibilities for the bioenergy-center, such as 2nd generation bioethanol and pyrolysis projects. This has, from the beginning, been one of the fundamental considerations as part of the investment, which is why CIP is now looking into the possibility of establishing a bioethanol plant in Måbjerg.
Both Struer Energi and Vestforsyningen are happy that CIP is ready to acquire and invest a multimillion amount into developing Maabjerg Energy Centers biogas plant, and especially that CIP views 2nd generation bioethanol and pyrolysis as a future vital part of a sustainable bioenergy center.
”We would have loved to be a part of the expansion of renewable energy in this area, however, the regulations on municipality-owned enterprises would constantly have slowed us down,” says Kjeld Graversgård, the Chair of the board in Struer Energi.
”An expansion of the biogas plant calls for upgrading the biogas to be able to inject it to the gas grid. There is not a legal basis for us, as a municipality owned enterprise, to expand the plant,” adds Pernille Bloch, Chair of the board in Vestforsyningen.
The development of the bioenergy sector facilitates the long-term need for energy security and independence in Denmark, as well as the ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the industrial, transportation and agricultural sectors.
