Austrian company Biogest announced that received two orders to build its first biogas plants based on agricultural and food waste in Greece.
CEO of Biogest Martin Schlerka said that Greece has a huge market potential for biogas from agro- industrial residues. Moreover, the company has observed an increasing pressure in some Mediterranean areas to process the residues coming from olive oil production, for which it has the capacity to offer different solutions.
The first project, located on the island of Rhodes, is fed with olive pomace, oil residues, food residues from hotels, and by-products from the food and beverage industry. The facility will be able to supply approx. 1,300 households with electricity each year. The second project is located in the region of Thessaly. Its’ waste is mainly supplied by local farmers keeping pigs, cows and sheep to produce 1 MW electricity, which can cover the consumption of 2,400 households each year .
Following the renewable energy targets, Greece developed an ambitious energy strategy including attractive conditions for the development of biogas plants, which is well supported by its large raw material potential throughout the country. Biogest has achieved experience with similar residues coming from the Mediterranean agro- industry in the Italian biogas market, such as olive pomace, where several projects are under development and construction. The transformation of olive oil mill residues into biogas and fertilizer opens up new opportunities to provide a solution to a problematic residue while creating several products with high added value.
