BASgas, a company pioneering the production of green gas from manure, is pleased to receive investments from energy company Eneco and the East Netherlands Development Agency (Oost NL). BASgas will use this financial boost to realise production units at farms and set up a logistics system for transporting the gas produced at those farms and feeding it into the gas grid.
BASgas won’t just receive direct investments from Oost NL and Eneco’s investment branch Eneco Ventures. Both parties will also support the start-up in scaling up towards 50 gas production installations at farms. Furthermore, Eneco will purchase the green gas that BASgas produces and will blend into the gas grid. The procurement agreement assures BASgas of income during the years ahead, which will make it easier for the company to grow.
Gas production affordable for many more dairy farmers
To produce the biogas, the liquid manure is removed from the cattle shed as quickly as possible. This helps to drastically cut back ammonia and methane emissions. Inside a digester, the manure will be converted into biogas. However, processing that biogas into green gas that can be added to the gas grid requires a special installation, and the vast majority of farmers do not produce enough biogas to make such an installation a worthwhile outlay at this time. As a consequence, according to BASgas, the Netherlands is missing out on more than 600 million cubic metres of green gas.
BASgas has now developed a small installation which it can set up on a farmer’s land to produce the biogas. BASgas also arranges for the gas to be stored in gas bundles and fed into the grid. A portion of the revenue goes to the farmer, providing a new income model in exchange for a minor outlay. It also means a substantial drop in the farm’s emissions and so a major sustainability improvement.
Investments to support ambitions
“BASgas plans to build up a green gas production chain with dairy farms of a hundred or more cows,” explains BASgas Commercial Director Wolf Creemers. “To achieve this, we’re introducing new technology, and a new approach to working with the farms. This will also boost the energy transition and help to make dairy farming more sustainable. We’re incredibly pleased that Eneco and Oost NL share our vision and ambition. Thanks to their backing, we can now go to market.”
“Getting the production of green gas up and running is an important concern for Eneco,” highlights Paul Hendrix, director of business development at EET, Eneco’s trading organisation. “Not only is the Dutch government working on a blending mandate, but Eneco’s own environmental goals go beyond what the law requires. For example, we want to become climate-neutral by 2035. We still need gas at this time, so green gas is a key resource to help us achieve that goal. Procurement agreements such as the one with BASgas are crucial for us.”
“BASgas matches a technological solution to an urgent societal problem, while also presenting a useful prospect for farmers,” adds Energy Investment Manager Rick Mintjes of Oost NL. “What makes BASgas’s solution unique is the ability to produce gas on a small scale but at a quality equal to natural gas.” Oost NL’s investment is drawn from the Innovation and Energy Fund Gelderland, which Oost NL manages for the Province of Gelderland.