Agricultural business expands portfolio to include biomethane
Portfolio expansion, secure revenues and green energy – these were the three strong arguments that led the Timphaus farming business in Lohne to embrace biogas as a versatile energy source alongside pig farming back in 2011. “At the time, the 20-year guaranteed revenues from biogas under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) were able to offset fluctuating agricultural income at many farms and also convinced the Timphaus family to join us on the path towards renewable energy,” explains Christian Eilert, Area Sales Manager at EnviTec Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG.
The customer is now taking the next step. After 15 years under the EEG support scheme, the operator family is expanding its plant to include an EnviThan gas upgrading unit. “Construction work on the 561 Nm³/h EnviThan plant began in January. If everything runs smoothly, we expect the first injection into the gas grid as early as October this year,” Eilert continues. All plant modules are currently being prefabricated and tested in the company’s own production hall in Saerbeck before being transported to the construction site in Lohne following the successful Factory Acceptance Test.
As part of the approval process for the gas upgrading unit, the customer also obtained permission to expand the entire biogas plant. This will enable the use of additional feedstocks such as manure and slurry and thus increase biogas production. “This allows us both to generate electricity flexibly and to upgrade biogas to biomethane for injection into the gas grid,” explains Franz Timphaus, Managing Director of Timphaus Erneuerbare Energien (TEE) GmbH & Co. KG.
The plant extension forms part of a series of measures the customer has taken to align the business model consistently with market requirements. The original biogas plant built by EnviTec Biogas under Germany´s privileged planning framework and with an electrical output of 549 kW, was already supplemented in 2020 by an additional flexible combined heat and power unit with an electrical capacity of 1,500 kW. This allows electricity generation to be managed more flexibly while also generating additional revenue by producing electricity precisely when it is needed on the market.
