Tue, 04/24/2018 - 08:33

VECHTA, Germany - German biogas specialist WELTEC BIOPOWER is currently building three anaerobic digestion plants in Northern Ireland. All three 500-kilowatt (kW) plants will shortly be completed and will go live in summer 2018. Two of them are being set up in County Antrim in northeast Northern Ireland. Another plant is being built in Benburb in County Tyrone. WELTEC will soon account for nine of a total of about 40 biogas plants in Northern Ireland. In recognition of this strong overseas commitment, WELTEC BIOPOWER recently qualified for the second place in the ranking of the German Foreign Trade Award. At first glance, the three new 500-kW plants look similar. Henceforth, all biogas plants will largely be charged with slurry and pig, cattle and poultry manure as well as a small amount of renewable raw materials. Nevertheless, the WELTEC engineers have developed an individual concept for each plant, as the substrate composition and retention times vary. For example, the plant in County Antrim will only have one 2,625-cubic meter (m3) stainless-steel digester. The second plant, which is located nearby, provides for two digesters with a capacity of 2,625 m3 each. The plant in Benburb will use a slightly larger stainless-steel digester in order to extract as much energy as possible from the substrates. WELTEC BIOPOWER qualified for the second place in the ranking of the German Foreign Trade Award in the small and medium-sized segment. On April 19, 2018, the award was conferred for the 10th time. The ceremony was conducted at the end of the German Foreign Trade Day by Dr. Carsten Sieling, mayor of Bremen, and Harald Emigholz, Chairman of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. Specifying the reasons for the bestowal of the award, the jury pointed out that WELTEC BIOPOWER started engaging in foreign trade as early as a year after its foundation in 2001. Today, more than 300 WELTEC plants exist in 25 countries on five continents. At present, additional energy plants are being built in Uruguay, France, Croatia and Greece. The export of German regenerative energy know-how has greatly contributed to WELTEC's sales and earnings performance.