WELTEC BIOPOWER GmbH is establishing its second biogas plant in Latvia in Limbaži, a city located about 50 miles north of Riga. The EU-subsidised 500 kW plant with its fermenter of 3,500 cubic metres will feed in power starting from July 2011. The final storage tank has a capacity of about 6,000 cubic metres. Plans for expanding the plant with another fermenter are already under way.
The 88 cubic metres stainless-steel storage tank is heated. Two 250 kW gas-powered engines will produce biogas for 8,000 hours a year. The input material to be fermented will include 3,500 t of cattle manure, 1,900 t of cow dung, 500 t of whole plant silage, 300 t of grass silage, and 7,000 t of maize silage. The combined heat and power concept comprises the heat supply of the close-by agricultural buildings. The investor is the vice-president of the Latvian biogas association.
To a certain extent, the growing interest in German biogas technology in the Baltic states is driven by the need to gain independence from Russian natural gas. Therefore, the first step towards decentralised energy supply was made in 2008, when the Latvians started replacing inefficient co-generation plants with high transport losses with smaller district co-generation plants.
Limbaži is a suitable location, as the former Hanseatic city with its population of about 10,000 is the centre of the administrative district of the same name and one of the main areas of agriculture and processing of agricultural products. Apart from the advantages of German high-end technology, the German-Latvian cooperation has an interesting linguistic feature: both languages use the same word for biomass: „Biomasse“.

German-based WELTEC BIOPWER celebrates ist 10th anniversary and is one of the pioneers of the constructors biogas plants. Based on the modern approach of experienced engineers, the company from Vechta (Lower Saxony) with its expertise of a staff of close to 80, offers complete biogas plants from one source and has developed to a leading constructor of biogas plants in the world.
One of the main strengths of the medium-sized enterprise is the ability to deliver individual and flexible solutions – from compact plants to large computer-controlled plants in the megawatt range, waste recycling plants, and biogas parks with gas processing technology.
The plants have a modular structure. WELTEC BIOPOWER uses only proven system components and develops most of the technologies along the entire value chain internally: fermenter technology, mixing technology, control technology, hygienisation systems, and digestate processing solutions originate from the company.
As the hydrogen sulphide and ammonia compounds contained in biogas corrode unprotected parts, WELTEC builds the fermenters from stainless steel. This ensures a long useful life of the plant. The manufacturing depth also guarantees a consistently high standard regardless of the location and ensures an export rate that is far above the industry average.
In 2010, the plants of WELTEC received the „DLG FokusTest“ certification from the German Agri- cultural Association (DLG) in recognition of their excellent biogas yield.

WELTEC BIOPOWER GmbH
Zum Langenberg 2
49377 Vechta

Thomas Wilkens Marketing
Phone: +49 4441/99978-220
Email: t.wilkens@weltec-biopower.de

www.weltec-biopower.de

This release was published on openPR.