NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de 34 Energy Niedersachsen’s farmers measure their harvest twice, in tons as well as in megawatt hours. For the region between the Harz mountains and the North Sea is indeed full of energy. Niedersachsen is the land of biogas. Nowhere else in Europe is the generation of energy from renewable raw and waste material as ad- vanced as in the federal state. Last year a yield of the equivalent of 2.7 million megawatt hours of electric- ity was being “harvested” in over 700, mostly agri- cultural, biogas plants. This means that in Germany one in four kilowatt hours of electricity from biologi- cal sources originates in the fields of Niedersachsen. Reducing Emissions Biomass does have enormous potential. A football pitch sized area of energy crops or liquid manure from 20 cows create enough energy to supply four house- holds with electricity and one household with heat. Through the conversion of the liquid manure methane gas emissions, which are very harmful to the climate, are being significantly reduced. Ferment residues are returned to the cycle as fertilizer. And unlike the pro- duction process of other types of biofuel, biogas pro- duction uses the entire plant. In the face of steadily declining milk prices, for many farmers energy crops have turned into an important second source of income. “18 years ago biogas was nothing but a niche. Now many farmers have come to realize the numerous advantages that biogas offers,“ confirms Josef Pellmeyer, President of the German Biogas Association. One advantage being that feed-in tariffs for green electricity are fixed and guaranteed by the Amended Renewable Energy Law. Particularly operators of small plants that generate up to 150 kW are profiting. Including all additional bonuses, one kilowatthour fed into the grid can pay as much as 29 cents—at least for the 20 years to come. Little won- der then that more and more farmers are turning to- wards bioenergy crops. With tariffs being set, it is the degree of efficiency of individual biogas plants which decides on farmers’ revenues. Power Plants by Inka Ziegenhagen More energy from less biomass—this probably describes best the mission of En- vitec Biogas. A very successful mission since the Lohne-based company has clients from Bilbao to Seoul. As the market leader in its field, the firm both builds and as- sists in the operation of biogas plants. Recently its expertise was confirmed when the “Envitec Feedcontrol” machine was voted “Machine of the Year 2010” at the Agritechnica in Hannover, the world’s largest fair for the agricultural machinery sector. “Feedcontrol” starts out with organic matter, such as energy crops, liquid manure, biodegradable waste and sewage sludge that get pumped into a heated 230,000 ha had been used to plant energy crops—equivalent to 8.8 percent of the total agricultural land Photo: MT-Energie Last year’s yield of corn in Niedersachsen?  Excellent: 2.7 million megawatt hours.