The biggest investment programme in the history of EnviTec Biogas AG is currently underway, with a budget of €100 million.
“Our company strategy is based around expanding our Own Investment division and massively scaling-up our energy production,” explained Olaf von Lehmden, CEO.
Operation of the plants is completely conducted in-house by EnviTec itself, or with partners from the agriculture sector.
“These are always partnerships among equals, of course,” added CFO Jörg Fischer. “At the same time, we have a clear division of responsibilities, with our partner providing the premises and the input materials, for example, while we handle all of the service work and also handle the commercial side of the business.”
“In our domestic market of Germany, we now have 81 plants with an annual biogas generation capacity of around 1,500 GWh per year," he continued.
"In other European countries we operate another seven plants with a nominal annual output of 180 GWh.”
With the completion of the new investments begun in 2023, annual biogas generation capacity will rise to around 1,800 GWh/year in 2025.
While biogas upgrading plants now account for around a third of this figure, this proportion is set to rise fast.
This also makes EnviTec the biggest biogas producer in Germany, von Lehmden said.
“As an all-rounder and leading biogas producer in Germany, we are not only a major contributor to the energy transition but are also decarbonising other parts of the energy sector in general, such as the transport sector or in relation to building energy,” said von Lehmden.
One such major contribution to the decarbonisation of the transport sector is EnviTec’s acquisition of BioEnergie Park Güstrow and its extensive conversion to Germany’s largest integrated bio-LNG plant plus CO2 liquefaction (LCO2).
Von Lehmden continued: “Having acquired this plant, we can now operate as an independent provider of climate-neutral fuel for the utility/heavy goods vehicle transport market, making green LCO2 available and blazing a trail for the industry as a whole.”
The green LCO2 is utilised in the food industry and will also become indispensable in the medium term for hydrogen derivatives, according to the company.
“Where biomethanol or biokerosine are needed and produced from hydrogen, a green carbon molecule is always required,” von Lehmden explained.
Urgent appeal to policymakers
In Own Investment, the company has recorded healthy growth for many years now.
“In terms of policymaking, however, we lack long-term perspectives and a solid framework,” said Fischer. “The current downward trend for GHG quota pricing, which has fallen sharply from €430 to €110 per tonne of CO₂ in a single year, is simply not on the radar,” he said.
This is causing uncertainty in the industry as well as a marked decline in investment in the hydrogen and green mobility markets, as well as the expansion of biogas plants, Fischer went on to say.
“We hope that policymakers address this situation as a matter of urgency and act accordingly,” concluded the CFO.
Own Investment sees Envitec Biogas “reliably” record highest revenue share
