Dieter Schulze, Brandenburg’s State Secretary for Rural Development and the Environment, watched the ‘first sod’ officially being cut for the construction of the agri.capital biogas plant in Wriezen. The plant is set to become operational in spring 2010 and will have a 7 MW-biomethane infeed capacity.
Approximately 15 local farmers and cooperatives will supply the biogas plant with renewable raw materials consisting primarily of grass and maize silage as well as Sudan grass.
The biogas produced in the plant will be processed to obtain biomethane, after which it will be fed into the local natural gas network operated by the energy company EWE.
The installation’s annual infeed capacity of 56 million kW hours will be sufficient to supply around 2,800 homes with heat energy.
State Secretary Schulze welcomed agri.capital’s investment in Wriezen, referring to Brandenburg’s ‘Energy Strategy 2020’. This aims to ensure that renewable energies account for at least 20 percent of the state’s primary energy consumption by the year 2020.
The district of Maerkisch-Oderland is ready to embrace further projects of this nature, as confirmed by its Deputy Mayor Rainer Schinkel.
The Mayor of Wriezen, Uwe Siebert, is delighted about the additional value brought to the area by agri.capital’s long-term commitment to Wriezen and lauded the atmosphere of constructive cooperation throughout the planning and approval process for the project.