Suomen Lantakaasu, Atria take FID on EUR-60m Finnish biogas plant

Finnish manure-based liquified biogas (LBG) firm Suomen Lantakaasu, a joint venture of local energy firm St1 and food company Valio, and its partner, Finnish food group Atria Oyi (HEL:ATRAV) have taken a final investment decision (FID) on a 100-GWh biofuel production plant at home.

The two partners will invest more than EUR 60 million (USD 66.5m) to build what is touted as the first industrial-scale LBG production plant in the country. The facility will be constructed close to Atria’s production plant in Nurmo, the companies said in a joint statement today.

Construction works are expected to start immediately and be completed in 2026.

The Nurmon Bioenergia plant will produce LBG for heavy-duty vehicles and biofertiliser for agriculture utilising manure from farms in the South Ostrobothnia region as well as agricultural and food industry byproducts.

The project is owned by Suomen Lantakaasu and is implemented in partnership with Atria. It has already obtained an environmental and construction permit and is backed by EUR 9.4 million from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The partners have also applied for EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) investment aid, which, if approved, will allow them to expand the facility to around 125 GWh of annual production.

“The Nurmo biogas plant is the first step in building Suomen Lantakaasu’s national production plant network and 1 terawatt-hour liquefied biogas production capacity. It’s great that we can move forward with the Nurmo biogas plant project, which we acquired in the spring and which has been in the pipeline for a long time,” said Leena Helminen, director of sustainable business development at Valio.

The FID on the new facility comes when St1 is building its own LBG refuelling network. The first two stations are already finalised.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.110)

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