The German biogas plant specialist Weltec Biopower is building three more biogas plants in Greece together with its Greek partner Tetoros Machinery. Two of these facilities are located in the Epirus region in north-western Greece: one 1-MW plant in the town of Arta and a 500-kW plant in Ioannina, Weltec announced. The firm is also undertaking a 250-kW biogas plant project in Serres in Central Macedonia, where an existing combined heat and power plant is being upgraded to 750 kW. The plant in Ioannina will commence operations this autumn.
According to Weltec, poultry and cattle farming is prevalent in the rural region around Epirus, so there is more biomass available than existing plants can handle. Building and modernising biogas plants was thus a profitable venture, especially as these projects also receive subsidies. The 1-MW facility in Arta will process 150 tonnes of cattle slurry and 50 tonnes of dried chicken manure each day. Ioannina’s daily input will comprise 100 tonnes of cattle slurry and 30 tonnes of dry chicken manure, while Serres will have a substrate mix of 40 tonnes of cattle manure and 10 tonnes of energy crops each day.
The three biogas projects are key components of Greece’s energy transition, Weltec said. A report from Dapeep, the Greek market operator for renewable energy sources, showed, for instance, that new biomass and biogas plants with a total capacity of 7 MW came online in the first half of 2022. The Greek Energy and Climate Plan aims to double the share of renewable energy in the nation's electricity mix bringing it from 30 per cent in 2021 to 60 per cent in 2030. Weltec Biopower has implemented 36 biogas plants and projects in the country since 2007.
