PROJECT DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

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1 Information & training courses PROJECT DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE Who is planning to built a biogas plant, should be conscious of the long-term consequences of its decision. The first stage for planning a biogas plant is to define roughly the size of the plant and to estimate approximately the substrates which can be fermented qualitatively and quantitatively. During the identification of the information the following questions should be clarified: How large would be the plant, regarding digested volumes and electrical connected load? Which is the better location for the plant? Which technology should be suitable for my input mixture? Which requirements are to be fulfilled? When and where could I apply for subsidies? Information/training courses The operator must know about the biogas process and understand it, if he wants to operate its plant safely and with high efficiency. Only in this way "feeding errors" can be avoided and measured values can be correctly interpreted. To monitor the process accurately, the control of ph values and temperature is not enough. Especially the fermentation from co-substrates requires higher technical and analytical costs to increase the biogas production compared to the conventional fermentation of manure. The potential customer has participated in a biogas training course The potential customer has participated in a study tour of biogas plants The potential customer has read something over biogas Preplanning During the preplanning phase, which lasts a long period of time, the future operator faces the task to adapt continuously the technology and the plant configuration to its operational conditions. In this phase conversations with several providers should take place. It is necessary for the plant operator to gather as much as possible information from various sources to estimate the offers of the different manufacturers better. To visit existing biogas plants in the context from organized field visits or study tours is very helpful at this stage. This provides the biogas-interested the possibility to ask as independently and realistically as possible the plant operator about the suitability of a system offered in the market from a specific manufacturer or a plant planner. The potential customer has informed himself already about the available technical systems on the market The potential customer has informed himself already about the different configurations of the installations The potential customer already held conversations with several providers

2 Situation of the agricultural enterprises Animal substrates: A certain minimum size is required for a biogas plant, for the operation process at least 100 LU of liquid manure should be available, this corresponds approximately to 2,000 ton /a. The addition of available, free of charge, animal excrements should be considered from the beginning since it leads to several positive effects. To be mentioned are the stabilization of fermenting biology and a process security improvement. Cattle liquid manure is suitable due to the paunch digestion and the well balanced composition in nutrients and structure material. The pig liquid manure, with a higher energy content and possibly diluted by washing waters, is also suitable for the process. With this diluted liquid manure a larger fermenting volume and a decrease of the dry substance content are the result. Chicken muck has the highest energy content; however its fermentation process is affected due to the sinking layer formation and high ammonium content and therefore additional carbon (straw flour, maize silage, fats) and requires sand discharge. Generally at least 2000 t of fermentable biomass per year should be available at the biogas plant to be able to build and economically operate the plant. The qualitative collection is to be considered, since for example through discontinue feeding and the addition of dry muck the consistency of the input mixture changes, therefore, the agitating and pumping ability vary as well as the gasification rate. If a part of the livestock of the farm or agricultural enterprise stands on the pasture and not on the stable, the animal excrements amount, which could be used as input into the plant, decreases. The potential customer possesses the required amount of liquid manure necessary for the enterprise (with consideration of pasture routes) on its own agricultural enterprise minimum 2000 t/a The potential customer has the possibility to get delivered from the vicinity (max. 5 km) the required amount of animal excrements The potential customer must organize the delivery of the animal excrements itself Energy crops: It is advantageous for the biological process to ferment the liquid manure together with energy crops. Some of the energy crops are grass (as cut grass or conserved silage), maize silage, cereals (as grains or as plant silage), fodder and sugar beets as well as further energy crops (e.g. sorghum, sunflower, sorghum sudanense and Jerusalem artichoke), which still in the breeder stage. It has to be considered with the economic view that these substrates (contrary to the residual substances from the foodstuffs industry) cause costs of cultivation and ensilaged (with this preservation it comes to the so-called ensilaged-lost), which should be carefully considered in the calculation. Organic substances with high contents of wood such as tree cut or bush cut and crusts, do not harm the process but cause blockages due to their high lignin portion, which cannot be anaerobic degraded.

3 The potential customer has arranged at long term the area for the cultivation of energy crops (considering a meaningful crop rotation) Energy crops will be supplied also from cooperating agriculture enterprises located at the most within 10 km of the planned biogas plant The potential customer has (taking into account a corner sifting of a multiple use) sufficiently silo volumes to preserve the entire energy crops Other organic residues: The biogas plants, that ferment different residual substances, which originate particularly from the food industry, are called co-fermentation plants. By achievable disposal revenues and the payment by the generated energy, this can be for the operator a very lucrative possibility of the plant operation. However, the economy of such plants stands and falls with the price, which is obtained for the disposal of the food in the biogas plant. It is important to take into account that if the number of biogas plants increases, in the respective region, the demand of residues rises too, that normally involves a decline of disposal revenues and a turning back end. At the fermentation of organic residual substances from the industry a reorientation must take place in relation to the simple liquid manure fermentation. The associations of operators have emerged in the last years as a meaningful way to supply the leftover organic residues. In the associations are several plant operators involved. As a consequence of this common acting the prices for the co-substrates remain relatively stable on the market. In order to operate successfully a plant with high portions of high-energy cosubstrates, many important questions must be clarified prior the plant construction and respectively the plant planning phase. So for example when receiving epidemic-hygienic precarious co-substrates the livestock and the biowaste ordinances are to be considered. A safe mode of operation and high gas yields require higher technical expenses and regular analytic control of the process. The potential customer has informed himself already over the situation (quantity, quality, and price) of the organic residues in its region at long-term The potential customer has informed himself already whether in his region exist other biogas plants or biogas plants organizations Required working time: Since the fermentation process cannot run by itself, is not possible to run a biogas plant without supervision and maintenance. The operator should accomplish multiple activities in different intervals. The activities vary with the time, there are daily (note gas meter conditions and control operation hours of the engine, engine oil level, electrical room, switchgear cabinet and fermenting temperature), weekly (control filling conditions and submerged propellers; operate mass of gas valve), monthly (operate all valves, in order to avoid a sedimentation; examine desulphurization function), half-yearly (examine gas magnet valve function and contamination) and annually (remove stones from the first pond; control and rinses of the gas lines; control of the fittings). To distribute these activities, it could be conceivable to co-operate with other plant operators and work as a communal facility. The

4 loss of an operator, for instance caused by illness or operation of his own plant, can be balanced by another person of the operator team, who substitutes him in this moment. The potential customer has informed himself already over the various activities and their intervals that occur on the daily operation of a biogas plant The potential customer is able (has the work capacity) to operate the biogas plant as it is required The potential customer is aware over the fact that in case of illness of the operator or any individual, the biogas plant can be operated only if an operation team for the plant is ensured Financing: The investment into a biogas plant is long-term fixed. Since one cannot fix a financially stricken enterprise through a biogas plant, the investment in such technology should be carefully considered. For the project financier, which is usually a bank, are of crucial interest not only the usual credit examinations as credit-worthiness, solvency, and cost-effectiveness of the planned project but also the technical feasibility and specially the reliability of the planned plant due to the return of the investment as well as the individual evaluation of location. For a successful financing model a balanced financing structure is necessary including the use of subsidies with the supply of sufficient own capital funds. The annual earnings of the plant must be enough to cover all costs and also to provide a reserve for unexpected damages, which are not insured. The potential customer is aware over the fact that the invested capital into a biogas plant is long-term fixed The potential customer possesses enough capital funds by its own and creditworthiness The potential customer has informed himself already over the different financing possibilities and models Subsidies There are countries and regions, which support financially the establishment of biogas plants. Here it mostly concerns a partial remission of the debt. In order to receive the benefit of the promotion help, various aspects should be considered, among them to follow the guidelines and fulfill the grant procedures. Frequently the available means are relatively fast exhausted at the beginning of the year. Who submits his promotion form request too late in the yearly process, goes out sometimes empty. In any case it is meaningful to make contact as early as possible to the competent authorities for the promotion request. The potential customer has informed himself on time and extensively over the different funding possibilities The potential customer is able to finance the construction and operation costs even without subsidies

5 Plant location: With the definition of the biogas plant location the future operating development of the enterprise should be considered. Often a location looks like it offers the facilities to install there the biogas plant; even though it should be considered that the place in which the biogas plant will be build does not stand on the way of any future extension of the agricultural enterprise. It is necessary to clarify first and during the planning to consider whether the biogas plant needs a foundation soil and if the technical bonding fits in the existing infrastructure of the actual agricultural enterprise. For example, the existing liquid manure pipes, the liquid manure camps as well as driving silos by which the investment sum can be reduced could be integrated into the project. However, liquid manure camps already existing, which are under the stall, can be hardly integrated into a plant concept, since they do not count with agitation devices and are not gas-tight. Additionally it lasts too much, until the liquid manure is available for the fermentation process; for high gas yields it should be fed as continuously and freshly as possible. Contact with the energy provider should be done as soon as possible, in order to clarify the chance to feed the current at the potential plant location as well as the costs of the connection to the grid. The potential customer is aware that the biogas plant represents a static facility The potential customer has thought over the fact that the biogas plant may not be in the way of a possible extension of his farms operation The potential customer has thought about the possibility to integrate the biogas plant into the existing farms operating structure The potential customer has examined the possibility to get the approval for the plant Single or communal biogas plant When a biogas plant is built it could be cheaper and more efficient if, the neighbors organized themselves to build one together. Also unfavorable conditions of the individual agricultural business can become balanced by the common plant operation. The principal reason, to go for a communal biogas plant, is that the location in direct proximity to the heat customers can be selected. The surplus heat warms then not only the agricultural enterprise and possibly the housing units, but larger industrial companies, populated areas, communal facilities as well as swimming pools. Communal plants process larger material flows, resulting in larger fermentation plants. The gas produced in those plants is then conducted to block co-generation power stations, which have a higher electrical efficiency. If the surplus heat is used meaningfully, the overall efficiency of the plant, and thus the economics can be clearly improved. Nevertheless the transport costs of the input substrates, especially of the low-energy liquid manure, have to be calculated in detail since the planning phase of the biogas plant. The potential customer has informed himself already over the fundamental differences

6 of single or communal biogas plant The potential customer has informed himself already over the different technical possibilities to use the heat The potential customer has informed himself already over the possible heat customers, if possible in the vicinity of the biogas plant The potential customer has informed himself already over the possibility of feeding biogas into the natural gas grid Authorization The authorization/permission phase follows the planning phase. In principle the rules that apply for building an agricultural biogas plant are very similar to the ones applicable for stalls. Thus also different authorities are concerned with the permission of the biogas plant. For this reason it is helpful that the plant planner and/or farmer get in contact at the early stage with the authority representatives to know more about the licensing procedure. It is particularly important in regions, in which still no and/or very few biogas plants exist. In this case it constitutes for the authority representatives involved a new subject. Therefore they would make available the required information during this discussion. The potential customer has informed himself already about the process to get the permission to built a biogas plant The potential customer has informed himself already about which authorities provide the required permissions Electricity/ heating / and digestates Biogas transformation to electricity and heat The biogas can be used in very different ways. In combined heat and power generation plants (CHP), by utilization of heat in burners, as fuel or by the direct feed in the natural gas grid. In practice the common use so far is for combining energy and heat production in a block co-generation power station. The sales of the electricity produced in a biogas plant represent the main source of income for the plant operated particularly with agricultural substrates. The bigger the portion of the disposed substrates is, the smaller becomes the income of this portion, since the disposal revenues move this price more into the foreground. With the entry into force of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, for example in Germany the basic conditions for the possible operator were created to calculate with a fixed and guaranteed electricity tariff on 20 years. For the block co-generation power station concerns gas petrol or ignition jet engines. With the last it must be considered that additionally to the biogas a specific amount of ignition oil (diesel or biodiesel) is needed, in order to ignite the gas. This is to be considered as additional cost factor. However, ignition jet engines can be operated in case of a breakdown of the biogas supply with pure ignition oil or diesel, in order to prevent operational failures of the biogas plan. The electricity produced thereby is fed predominantly into the public grid of the regional power supplier. The surplus heat produced in the engine must be conducted, in order to avoid an overheating. A part is used for the

7 heating of the digester. This is, depending upon the number, form and volume of containers about % of the total resulting amount of heat. The larger portion of the surplus heat (about %) can be used either for heating purpose due to the predominantly temperature level for heating the building- or must be over unused radiators exhausted. The potential customer has informed himself already over the different utilization possibilities of the biogas The potential customer has informed himself already about the different co-generation technologies available on the market (in the next years still the most frequently applied of electricity generation technology) Digestates The most important output of a biogas plant is certainly the produced gas. With the gas conversion and through its sell as electricity, especially, and heat money can be earned directly. The second main product of a biogas plant, but often underestimated, is the digested substrate, called digestate. This offers compared with raw liquid manure several plant-structural advantages: reduction of the etching action, an improved fluidity, fewer ammonia losses, clearly smell reduction, less nitrate washing as well as killing of weeds seeds and disease germs. In the last years in Germany the rising size from biogas plants has made that in particular energy crops do not come any more from own agricultural surfaces, but have to be bought in the market and to be transported over far distances. At the same time still about 80 Ma.% of the mix of the substrates brought into the biogas plant result as digestate, depending on the substrate, for this yield corresponding surfaces are necessary, which lets the costs of the yield of the fermented biomass likewise increase. Since the required macronutrients for the plant N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) are not diminished during the fermentation process, it can be said that these emerge also completely again in the highly liquid digestate. By the digestate application in the near surface of the soil by means of a dragging hose technology the additional purchase of mineral fertilizer can be reduced. In the future it is also open for the plant operators the possibility to prepare the digestate. By it the amount of produced digestate is reduced, and respectively the nutrients (secondary fertilizers) become in a transportable and storable form. This makes an export possible into other regions, where the nutrient situation is tense. However, the digestate, prepared or not, can be only profitably sell, if a market exists and/or the plant operator is able to open it. The potential customer has informed himself about the individual amount, kind and composition of its future digestates The potential customer has thought about the regional situation of the nutrients, their land spreading possibilities as well as their possible financial incomes through the sales There is enough area of land available for spreading of digestates

8 Result To make a decision whether and how a biogas plant fits into ones enterprise demands not only operational and personal suitability. It is important for that for instance: to count with enough working time or the possibility to integrate already existing technology and buildings into the entire plant concept. A decision factor can be however, often, additional effects, which result from the use of the heat of the waste products or from the changed liquid manure characteristics. Therefore, during the project implementation a systematic proceeding and a precise consideration are required, since only combining these different effects a biogas plant becomes profitable and an additional support for the agricultural enterprise.