The Netherlands: €150m project turning cow manure into biogas
New biogas project to take off in the Netherladns.
Located in north-west of the Netherlands, the Heegs‘ farm counts more cows than people which makes it perfect site for the new biogas project. The idea is to feed the anaerobic digesters only with cow manure in order to produce biogas and fertilisers which are to be used on the Heegs‘ farm. There are more than 1000 farms of like this one in the Netherlands which are tageted to be part of this project.
Pieter Heeg expressed his excitement: ‘Before, we just spread [dung] on the land. Now I process it, get energy from it and then fertiliser. This way, we make everything useful.’ The digester situated in Heegs’ farm generates 9.342 kWh of electricity which is enough to power three homes for a year. Henk Kamp, the Netherlands’ Economic Affairs Minister sees here a great opportunity for meeting the Netherlands’ target of generating 14% of renewable energy.
The manure processing is a very big issue in the Netherlands, since it produces 10% of all their greenhouse gas emissions. The opinions on whether the construction of small digesters on various farms is a good idea, are very diverse, however Mr Jan Willem Straatsma, sustainable livestock farming manager at FrieslandCampina, expressed his positive attitude saying: ‘With larger ones, you need to transport manure, causing more traffic and energy use, smart technology on farms is a better solution.”
Source: The Guardian
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