Alina Oprea • 29 January, 2024 at 12:11 PM
The Spanish-based company Genia Bioenergy is building a biogas cogeneration facility in the Seleus locality of Arad County. The biogas plant will provide electricity and thermal energy and will be operational this year. The purpose of this facility is to provide a sustainable solution for the management of 60,000 tons of animal and agricultural waste per year, by generating renewable energy that can benefit both the municipality and the residents. The plant will solve local problems related to the management of sewers in a predominantly agricultural and animal husbandry area, providing residents with low-cost electricity and free heating in time.
The power plant would be put into operation in October of this year.
The project has a 1 MW cogeneration engine, which will produce electricity from the generated biogas, which it will sell in the network and to which the inhabitants and companies of Seleus will have access at a lower price than the market price. The resulting thermal energy is used in a district heating network that will supply hot water to all homes in the municipality and even to local livestock farms and businesses.
The municipality of Seleus obtained funding from the European Union for this project.
"The key was to be able to present a project completely adapted to the needs of the town of Seleus, but with the robustness that an agro-industrial unit needs and with the necessary standardization to meet the deadlines set for the project," says Bernat Chulià, director of Genia Bioenergy.
The mayor of Seleus commune, Cristian Branc, recently stated that the works have already started after the tender was won by an association made up of three companies, from Oradea, Hungary, and Spain.
The project has a non-refundable financing of 85% of the costs of €8.6 million and should be completed on December 31, 2024.
"Practically, from January 1, 2025, the commune's centralized heating system will be functional, and people will be able to give up wood stoves. The locals wanted such an investment because they need thermal energy including for solariums, our commune being famous for the production of vegetables in covered spaces. We are the first local administration in Romania to build such a thermal power plant, with biomass and biogas, and its capacity will be large enough to provide heat including in the cities of Ineu and Pâncota, for a certain number of beneficiaries", declared the mayor Cristian Branc.
The mayor said that in Seleus excavations have already begun for the network of thermal pipes, which will have a length of approximately 70 kilometers.