BelEnergia, a Franco-Luxembourg specialist in methanisation and cogeneration, took over the Sologne Biogaz methaniser in La Ferté-Saint-Aubin (Loiret), launched in 2014 by the French company Helioprod, which at the time wanted to recover horse manure and other green waste.
"The engine has only run 4,000 hours in 5 years, whereas normally it's 8,000 hours a year", sums up Vincent Bartin, one of the founders of BelEnergia, and who is a well-known industrialist in the region, since his family had run a recycling company in Vierzon and Châteauroux, Bartin Recyclage, sold to Veolia in 2010.
BelEnergia is investing 4 million euros in the recommissioning of Sologne Biogas, which is scheduled for the summer of 2022. Three people will be employed for the maintenance of this plant, the capacity of which has been increased from 18,000 to 26,000 tonnes of bio-waste per year. , from agriculture and the food industry.
10 plants in France, 30 in Europe
“We are installing a sanitization line, ie preparing bio-waste before recycling it.
In the previous installation, we sometimes found pebbles that mixed with the manure, which is what caused breakdowns,” explains Vincent Bartin.
Sologne Biogaz should produce 5GWh per year, equivalent to the consumption of 1,000 households.
A fertilizer production line is also planned for 2 million euros.
From 2023, BelEnergia wants to invest an additional 4 million euros, and eventually produce biogas which will be reinjected into the network.
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This will require more fermentable waste.
"We are counting on the obligation of local authorities to provide for better sorting of packaging and recovery of their bio-waste from January 1, 2025. We already have contacts with the Métropole d'Orléans", indicates Vincent Bartin.
BelEnergia does not want to stop there.
The company is aiming for a fleet of 10 biogas plants in France, and 30 plants in Europe by 2023. It has received support from the English investment fund Schroders, which provided 65 million euros at the end of 2021.