Gießen/Großen-Buseck. Stadtwerke Gießen is continuing to drive forward the expansion of renewable energies in the Central Hesse region: currently with the biogas plant in Großen-Buseck, which SWG commissioned together with farmer Dietmar Klos this May. Interested parties can now take a look at the first biogas plant of Stadtwerke Gießen for a whole day on Sunday, 11 September from 10 am to 5 pm at the Klos family's Aussiedlerhof farm at Schützenweg 100 in Buseck. There will be guided tours every 20 minutes on this open day, as well as a colourful supporting programme with a bouncy castle, raffle and raffle tickets for the "Tour of Hope". Catering will also be provided.
The event aims to promote the sustainable use of biomass and combined heat and power generation for energy production and provide first-hand information about their environmental benefits: "We know how important it is for the public to accept such new plants and technologies. It's not just about the technology itself, but also about gaining approval for a path that we consider to be ecologically and economically correct and important," explains SWG company spokeswoman Ina Weller. In order to really drive forward the energy transition in Central Hessen, it is essential to get everyone involved. "That's why it's best for everyone to see for themselves what we consider to be an important technological building block for climate-neutral energy generation in the future," Ina Weller continues.
Research project for the energy transition
The plant produces combustible biogas from energy sources such as maize, grass and liquid manure, which powers a combined heat and power plant. Electricity and heat flow directly into the SWG energy grids. The heat generated alone would be enough to supply a residential area, a swimming pool and a school; the electricity is sufficient for around 430 households. The biogas process in the plant is climate and CO2-neutral on balance and supplies the same amount of energy annually as around 400,000 litres of heating oil. On balance, this saves the climate around 1200 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Back in 2010, Stadtwerke Gießen voluntarily committed itself to a significant reduction in climate-damaging greenhouse gases as part of the "Charter for Climate Protection" of the state of Hesse. Within this framework, SWG is also researching the potential of biogas utilisation together with the Technical University of Central Hesse and the University of Giessen. This work has already delivered initial results: In Großen-Buseck, for example, the waste heat from a biogas-fuelled combined heat and power plant can now also be used to generate energy for the first time. Research is also currently focusing on the optimisation of fermentation processes and the efficient and careful use of agricultural land.
Ecologically planned project
From the outset, the central motivation for planning and operating the biogas plant in Großen-Buseck was the question of how a biogas plant can generate the greatest possible benefit not only economically, but above all ecologically. It was important to those responsible at Stadtwerke not to blindly implement the new technology, but to think through all the factors to the end and then critically examine the implementation. This is why, among other things, short travel distances and soil-friendly crop rotations for biomass production, the methane density of the fermentation tanks and efficient utilisation of the biogas for electricity and heat generation played a key role in the project planning. According to SWG, the plant should make sense as a whole, not just in individual aspects. This is also because Großen-Buseck is intended to serve as a model for possible follow-up projects by Stadtwerke Gießen.