WELTEC BIOPOWER expands biogas portfolio in Greece

WELTEC BIOPOWER has registered keen interest in its plant technology in Greece and expanded a facility originally built in 2015.

In the past year, Weltec expanded its reach in the country by building four further projects and expanding three existing plants. Due to the great potential of organic residues to produce biogas and biomethane, especially in the north of the country, biogas is playing an increasingly important role in the Greek energy transition.

So far, Weltec has been involved in 17 of a total of 30 Greek agricultural and waste biogas plants. One of these AD plants was built in Megara, 30 kilometres west of Athens, in 2015. The company expanded this plant and since March last year, it has doubled its output to 1 MW.

It was important that a sufficient amount of substrate was available for the expansion. The area around Megara is known for its chicken farms and the biogas plant is also on the site of a chicken farm with 20,000 laying hens. In addition to poultry waste, roughly equal amounts of olive oil pomace, cattle and pig manure, as well as whey, are used to generate biogas.

Originally, the plant comprised of a stainless steel digester with a volume of 3,993 cubic metres, a 530 kW CHP, and a storage unit. For the increased input volume, Weltec built another 3,993 m3 stainless steel digester, another pre-storage unit, a second 530 kW CHP and an unpacking system for cheese and vegetables.

“The plant in Megara is one of the most efficient biogas projects in Greece,” said John Tetoros, Weltec’s Greek sales partner. “Our many years of experience and knowledge as well as the highly developed biogas technology from Weltec are two decisive reasons.

“The icing on the cake for the success of this plant is the strategically favourable location, the care of the operators and the use of the heat for stables and offices. So, it is hardly surprising that one of the two operators decided to build another biogas in Ritsona, 40 kilometres north of Athens. This is about to be completed and will go into operation in the spring. Just like in Megara, only organic residues are used to generate energy in Ritsona.”