Danish 2G bioethanol project to get back on its feet
The project to build the 2G bioethanol plant in
the Maabjerg Energy Center
(MEC) was going through difficult times in 2016. In fact, in October last year,
it was announced in a press
release that the parties behind the project had decided not to go ahead
with the biorefinery near Holstebro in Central Jutland. Jørgen Udby, Chairman
of the Board for MEC, said at that time: “It's a great shame that we're now
forced to make the tough decision to drop the project. We have an extremely
well-designed project, which has been scrutinised from all angles over five
years.” The consortium stated that the project would be put on hold as a
consequence of not being able to find a political majority to support the idea
of providing public guarantees for the investment. Instead, they were
encouraged to look for private investors.
However, the project seems to have found new
impetus. Last month, the London based investment firm Pioneer Point Partners confirmed in a
letter of intent that they are ready to negotiate investment up to 160 M€ in
the plant. They have made it a precondition that the political framework and long
term government support is settled first. MEC has already resumed negotiations
with the Danish Government.
After considering that the project was too
beneficial to the region to not keep trying, the consortium decided to do what they
were encouraged to. They split the project into two parts: a non-profit part
consisting of the two existing plants and a commercial part consisting solely
of the future 2G bioethanol plant. This led to contact with investors such as Pioneer
Point Partners which has a long track record of investing in renewable Energy
across Europe.
The plan is to build and integrate a 2G ethanol
plant (MEC Bioethanol) with the existing energy facilities at the site: MEC
BioHeat & Power and MEC Biogas. The former is a CHP plant put in operation
in 1997. It has a maximum output of 28 MW and generates both district heating
and electricity for the grid. It is possible to adjust the proportions of heat
and electricity so that more heating can be produced when the electricity
market price is low. The latter was commissioned in June 2012 and is one of
Europe’s largest industrial biogas plants with a capacity to treat up around
800,000 tons of material per annum. The feedstock is predominately slurry and
animal manure. The large-scale demo facility will be the final component of the
MEC complex. Thanks to the new, highly efficient enzymes from Novozymes and the
Inbicon technology of DONG Energy, MEC would be able to produce 73 million
litres per year of 2G bioethanol from 300,000 tons of straw (100,000 tons less
than previously estimated).
Figure 1. Integration of the three plants of
the MEC complex (extracted from MEC web page)
The news has been received with great
enthusiasm among the mayors in Holstebro and Struer – the home towns of the
projected 2G bioethanol plant. The plant is projected to be established right
on the boundaries of the municipality of Struer and the utility companies of
both municipalities (Struer Forsyning and Vestforsyning) are both involved in
the project.
