Biovakka is a small company in South-Western Finland, which built the first large-scale and centralized biogas plant which is able to process different raw materials in this country. Their second power plant went online in the end of 2008, and further biogas power plants are currently being planned, so the company is well on track to bring financially viable and sustainable energy solutions to Finland and surrounding countries.
The company started their operations in 2004 with their first anaerobic digestion power plant in the Turku region, which has a capacity of 120.000 tonnes/ year. These 120.000 tonnes are a mix of materials which are difficult to be utilized otherwise, like manure and other agricultural by-products, as well as waste from the food industry, communities and sewage sludge. The power plant has a 4 MW capacity, and as all biogas plants does not produce waste: The end products can be used a organic manure for fields and gardens or returned to the natural cycle.
With a turnover of EUR 2.2m in 2008 and approximately EUR 5m in 2009, the company is enjoying good growth, and they are positive about the future – the constructions permits for their next power plant are granted, and construction will start this year. Biovakka also signed a contract with Gasum in mid 2009, and the two companies will work together to produce biogas which can be used as a transportation fuel – another very lucrative business, which is set to grow in the coming years.
As I said before, I believe biogas is an excellent source of heat and energy, and with its possibility to use it as a transportation fuel – which is half the price of gasoline – it can free people from the volatile prices of oil. Biovakka is looking for further funding for further power plants in Finland and neighboring countries, get in touch with them if this sounds like a venture you’d like to take part in. Biogas is set to take off in the next years, and I hope that the Finnish government will start to support these and other renewable energy technologies more seriously in the future, instead of building more nuclear power plants.
