Axpo launches Spanish biogas plant to minimise dairy farm emissions

Swiss energy utility Axpo announced on February 1 that it had commissioned a biogas plant in Spain that will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from a dairy farm to nearly zero.

The plant takes all organic waste from the family-owned Torre Santamaria cattle dairy farm in Catalonia and converts it into bio-methane, which is then used to generate power for the farm. Any excess gas is fed into the local grid operated by Spanish gas distributor Nedgia, earning additional revenue.

Agriculture is the biggest source of anthropogenic methane emissions, and much of it comes from livestock. Axpo's managing director for Iberia, Ignacio Soneira, said the project could be replicated at other livestock operations, to make the sector more sustainable.

"Solid and liquid manure have a negative impact on land, groundwater and the atmosphere due to methane emissions," he said. "When we convert this waste into bio-methane, we can use it fully in the form of energy that is consumed at the dairy farm or fed into the gas grid."

In Catalonia alone, Axpo estimates that some 8mn pigs, 700,000 cattle and 38mn chickens generate around 17mn metric tons of liquid manure. The European Commission issued Spain with an ultimatum two years ago to address land contamination from livestock farming, pointing to problems in Catalonia in particular, and this has spurred interest in biogas production.