After a period of construction lasting 11 months, the Bioenergiepark Hof/Saale is producing its first biogas. Following an ecumenical blessing of the installation, the activation of the plant was formally celebrated yesterday in Hof. After further building works, the Bioenergiepark Hof/Saale is the largest biogas installation in Oberfranken and a showpiece project for the use of biogas in the vicinity of business and residential properties.
Thomas Fritsch and Raban Woryna, as business leaders of the project company, performed the official opening and started up the 716 kW Blockheizkraftwerk, which is now producing electricity and heat from environmentally-friendly biogas.
There were other words of congratulation: Dr. Gerhard Holtmeier from the board of VNG – Verbundnetz Gas AG, who are the main investors via BALANCE-VNG Bioenergie GmbH, emphasized that VNG have made a start in biogas production with the Bioenergiepark Hof/Saale and further projects should follow.
Armin Luczkowski, Chair of Viessmann Kältetechnik AG (VKAG), which as an energy-intensive production company will take all the surplus heat from the biogas installation, announced the expansion of the Bioenergiepark by the largest photo-voltaic installation in the region. By 2009 a 1 MW photo-voltaic installation should be positioned on the roofs of VKAG.
Best wishes for the future development of the project also came from the town of Hof and the Landrat Bernd Hering. The Bioenergiepark Hof/Saale shows that the production of biogas is also possible in the direct vicinity of industry and housing and that bio-energy production not only makes an important contribution to the protection of the environment and the climate but is also a positive feature for the locality.
The next phase of construction will include a further biogas installation with a power output of 800 kW and will begin in 2009. All told, three biogas installations with an electric power output of 2.1 MW and a photo-voltaic installation with a power output of 1 MW will come into being, from an investment of about 13 million Euros. Additionally, in the future there will be training for operators of biogas installations, to take place in the administration building of the Bioenergiepark
About the Bioenergiepark Hof/Saale:
Two institutional investors are engaged in the BGA Bioenergie GmbH as operators of this project: BALANCE VNG Bioenergie GmbH (www.balance-vng.de) a subsidiary of VNG – Verbundnetz Gas AG für Erneuerbare Energien of Leipzig and the i4r Bioenergiepark Hof Beteiligungs GmbH of Lüneburg (www.i4r.de).
Project development is overseen by enbion GmbH (www.enbion.de) of Lüneburg, who are specialized in locations where, in industrial areas, an almost-100% usage of the produced energy is attained. Technical leadership has been taken on by EE:BS GmbH (www.eebs.de), Bad Steben.
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