Meta-Bio Energies breaks ground on biogas plant

In France, bioenergy firm Meta-Bio Energies has broken ground on a biomass-to-biogas plant in Bel-Air de Combrée.

The new biogas plant will handle around 23,000 tonnes a year of biomass, including food, agricultural and municipal waste, and convert it into 1MW of energy – enough to benefit around 4,000 households.

Electricité de France will purchase the electricity, while the hot water produced when cooling the gas engine will be used by a local company.

The production of heat and power at the plant will see a 1,400-tonne reduction in the amount of carbon emitted annually. Operations are scheduled to commence by the end of the year.

'The plant will process solid biomass, liquid biomass and fats. This means that we will be very flexible as we will not be dependent on deliveries of specific kinds of biomass,' explains Jean-Paul Chazé, the owner of Meta-Bio Energies.

Xergi SAS, the subsidiary of France's Xergi, will supply the biogas plant.