New biogas projects are moving forward in Italy, Portugal and Spain, in further evidence of the scale-up of biomethane production.
In Italy, investment firm Plenium Partners has secured €25m ($28.6m) in public funding to build a new anaerobic digestion plant in Pavia, northwestern Italy. The facility will process agricultural waste to produce biomethane, which will be injected into the local gas grid. Construction is expected to begin this year, with completion planned for 2026.
The project is being developed through Plenium’s renewable energy platform and is backed by the EU’s Just Transition Fund and Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Once operational, the plant will produce around five million cubic metres of biomethane annually, equivalent to the natural gas consumption of over 6,000 households.
And Canadian company Anaergia has signed an agreement with Portuguese energy firm Capwatt to deliver nine biogas facilities across Portugal, Spain and Italy.
Under the contract, Anaergia will provide engineering, equipment and commissioning services for the network of plants.
Sérgio Rocha, CEO of Capwatt, stated, “This agreement will lead to the production of 556,000 MWh of high-quality biomethane annually.”
The plants will be supplied with a mix of agro-industrial and organic waste and will use Anaergia’s anaerobic digestion and upgrading technology. The first plant is expected to begin construction in the coming months, with the full portfolio scheduled for completion within 30 months.
The agreement marks Anaergia’s largest multi-site project in Europe to date and includes a 15-year service and maintenance component for the new facilities.
Steep scale-up of biomethane is needed to hit European targets. According to the European Biogas Association, Europe produced just over three billion cubic metres of biomethane in 2022, but has policies targeting more than 35 bcm of production by 2030. Italy and Spain are among the countries expected to see the fastest growth, due to high volumes of available agricultural waste allied to supportive policy frameworks.
