Germany's Biogas Nord to build 3.0 MW biogas plant in Romania

Germany's Biogas Nord AG said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement worth 6.6 million euro ($8.1 million) for building a 3.0 megawatt (MW) biogas plant in Romania.

The plant, located in the northwestern Romanian county of Satu Mare, is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2012 or at the beginning of 2013, the company said in a statement.

"Biogas Nord Power AG has decided to invest in the plant, receiving 30% of the shares in the SPV [special purpose vehicle] which owns the plant. This is in line with the company's long-term strategy of generating revenues by owning and operating its own plants, thus offsetting the seasonal fluctuations within the European construction sector," it said.

The electricity produced by the plant, owned by Romania-based Biogas Nord Camin SRL, will be fed into the public grid, while the generated heat will be used by a large greenhouse. It will use the BiNoLiquifeed-technology, which provides numerous benefits such as an increased gas yield, reduced retention time and significantly lower operation costs.

The biogas plant is expected to generate a 30% internal rate of return (IRR).

"The Romanian biogas sector has a huge potential. The conditions for biogas plant operators are excellent due to the abundance of high-quality substrates. Furthermore, EU subsidies and green certificates offer additional economic incentives," Biogas Nord’s Romanian country manager Razvan Serachitopol said.

The company plans to expand and to intensify its marketing and sales activities in Romania in the medium and long term, he added.

Biogas Nord is a global company building turn-key biogas plants. It has built to date more than 350 biogas plants in Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the U.S., Italy, the UK, Belarus, Ireland, Thailand, Cuba, Romania and Latvia.

($=0.8123 euro)

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