Gasum to strengthen availability of renewable biogas through acquisition of Mäkikylä biogas plant in Kouvola, Finland
As the largest biogas producer in the Nordics, Gasum aims to strengthen the availability of biogas ther. Under the transaction completed on 17 May, Gasum has acquired the Mäkikylä biogas plant from water company Kouvolan Vesi Oy. The transaction will allow investments to significantly grow production capacity at the plant. Biogas production must increase in order to meet the ambitious traffic emissions reduction targets looking ahead.
Under the agreement signed between Gasum and Kouvolan Vesi, the Mäkikylä biogas plant and its business, including contracts, will transfer to Gasum on 17 June 2019. The plant comprises the biogas plant building and process equipment located in conjunction with Mäkikylä wastewater treatment plant.
“The transaction now completed ends a process lasting several years during which we have sought an economically and functionally sustainable solution to our biogas plant operations, which are not part of our core business,” sums up CEO Timo Kyntäjä at Kouvalan Vesi.
The Mäkikylä biogas plant has been underperforming largely because of its small processing capacity. The plant has processed around 20,000 tonnes of biomass a year, which is the amount allowed by its permit. Gasum plans to invest in developing the plant.
“As a company we are committed to growing the supply of biogas as a renewable traffic fuel and as an enabler to achieving traffic emissions reduction targets. This requires increased production of biogas. The transaction will allow us to invest in the expansion of the Mäkikylä plant with the aim of increasing biogas production at the plant. We will also modernize the processes at the plant to bring them into line with today’s requirements,” says Ari Suomilammi, director, Circular Economy Finland, Gasum.
Gasum currently owns 12 biogas plants in Finland and Sweden, and buys biogas from three partner plants, of which the Mäkikylä plant is one. Gasum has invested in the construction of a biogas plant in Lohja (Finland) and in Nymölla (Sweden) and in the expansion of the Turku biogas plant. The company’s current biogas capacity is around 650 GWh a year.
Completed in 2011, the Mäkikylä bioplant was built by Kymen Bioenergia Oy, whose main owner was KSS Energia Oy. The City of Kouvola transferred the bioplant and its processing plant to the Waterworks between 2014 and 2015.
