Biogas plant in Botoš put into operation

On 4 October 2016, a biogas plant for combined heat and power production (CHP) was ceremonially put into operation in the Banat village of Botoš, in the vicinity of Zrenjanin. The plant is owned by the company “Biolektra doo”. Construction of the plant was supported by approval of a grant based on the public call published last year by the Ministry of Mining and Energy in cooperation with UNDP. The incentive funds were provided by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) within the UNDP Project “Reducing Barriers to Accelerate the Development of Biomass Markets in Serbia”. In this case, the total value of grant amounted to 15% of the plant investment value, i.e. 275.000 USD. The plant has 0.6 MW of installed electric and 0.6 MW of installed thermal power. Technology of Dutch company Host was implemented for production of biogas. The expected annual production of power amounts to 5,000 MWh. Construction of two further stages of power plant, when two more CHP units of the same capacity will be added, is envisaged. Upon completion of the third stage, the power plant will have the total installed capacity of 1.8 MWe. The total value of investment into this plant amounts to 2.37 million USD.

The plant is integrated with company “Mladost doo” from Botoš, which cultivates about 1000 ha of land; thanks to application of modern agro-technical solutions such as the irrigation system, it is possible to have two harvests a year at most of the land. The plant operates on raw materials such as sugar beet residue, waste from sugar production, and corn silage, at the total amount of 12,000 t a year. Thus, without disturbing the existing material balance of agricultural production, various types of silage are provided, which creates a long-lasting and steady raw material base for continuous operation of the plant. The plant is highly efficient, as low temperature heat from the internal combustion engine is used for the process of fermentation as well as in green glass houses, which are currently under construction.

Mr Aleksandar Antić, Serbian Minister of mining and energy, ceremonially put the new plant into operation. On this occasion, he addressed those present, emphasizing that Serbia will continue to invest in green energy:

“This very important project is a guideline and example of the direction in which Serbia should develop its energy sector, but also of the direction our state and society should take in view of resources available to us. We do not have any natural reserves of oil or gas, but we do have quality land and clever, hard-working people, which is what matters most. We need to use this capital with assistance of state-of-the-art technology and use renewable energy sources “.

Except for representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, the ceremony was also attended by H. E. Hendrik G.C. van den Dool, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Maja Matejić, UNDP representative, Slavko Carić, President of the Executive committee of Erste Bank, Dutch partners, and numerous other guests.

On this occasion, Mr Branislav Pomoriški, “Bioelektra doo” manager, said:

“Measuring by the business potential of biomass-operated plants, we are a considerable energy facility, as, thanks to our by-products, we open up perspective for fast and direct benefitting to numerous cooperators as well as the broader local community. Our primary product is green rural synergy, and we are proud of it.”