Nordic gas and energy major Gasum Oy has announced that has decided to invest in building a new biogas plant in Borlänge, Sweden. The investment decision is the next step in Gasum’s plan to build five large-scale biogas plants in the country.
According to a statement, the announcement also promotes Gasum’s strategic goal of increasing Nordic biogas availability significantly in the coming years by investing over EUR 62 million in the construction of a biogas plant in Borlänge, Sweden.
Biogas is a renewable and climate-friendly fuel that is produced from different types of organic waste.
In its upgraded and liquefied form (bioLNG) it can be used in shipping, heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) in road transport, and industry.
It is a highly attractive fuel as it can, according to Gasum, reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 90 percent when compared to traditional fuels.
Regionally source mixed feedstock
The project has been granted a subsidy of EUR 15 million from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Step (Klimatklivet) program.
Construction of the plant will begin in the spring of 2024. By using a feedstock mixture of regionally sourced organic household waste and livestock manure the plant will produce 133 GWh worth of bioLNG per annum from 2026 onwards.
The Borlänge plant will be using a total amount of 270,000 tonnes of feedstock per year. The organic household waste will be collected and processed by Gasum’s local partner Borlänge Energi AB, and manure will be sourced from farmers in the Borlänge area.
The Borlänge plant is the northernmost of Gasum’s biogas plants in Sweden, and we are looking forward to our close cooperation with Borlänge Energi. This investment is the next step towards our goal to increase our own biogas production to two terawatt hours (TWh) a year by 2027, said Erik Woode, Head of Production at Gasum.
In addition to bioLNG the Borlänge plant will produce 250,000 tonnes of high quality environmentally friendly biofertilizers per year.
Compared to fossil fertilizers, recycled biofertilizers contain organic matter which is important in maintaining the growing conditions and weather resistance of farmlands.
Second of five plants
The Borlänge plant is the second plant in a series of five large-scale biogas plants Gasum plans to construct in Sweden. The construction of the first plant, located in Götene, began in February 2023 and is expected to start producing biogas at the end of 2024.
The remaining three plants will be located in Kalmar, Sjöbo, and Hörby. Gasum is also planning a biogas plant near Trondheim in Norway.
The projects are part of Gasum’s renewed strategy to invest heavily in Nordic biogas availability in coming years to bring 7 TWh of renewable gas yearly to the market by 2027.
Achieving this goal would mean a total emissions reduction of 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) for Gasum’s customers.
