FEATURE: BIOENERGY IN INDUSTRY Biogas pilot for process heat "GBNJMZSVOCVTJOFTT4BOUJCB×F&OFSHZIBTRVJUFBOFYDFQUJPOBMCJPHBTQJMPU plant. Located in the town of Iscar, Valladolid the 100 kW heat-only plant is built using Spanish developed technology. THE SANTIBAÑEZ ENERGY PROJECT illustrates the vision and tenacity of a farming family whose younger members have been schooled and trained in various fields of engineering and agronomy. Together they sought to find better returns on traditional resources through new business models and technical ideas. Without letting legislative or bureaucratic sluggishness hold them back. Heat on demand for poultry processing Unlike most other biogas plants in Spain that are built with power generation in mind, revenue for the Santibañez Energy plant is exclusively based on heat generation. This was not the case from the outset as according to Enrique Sánchez, an industrial engineer and the eldest sibling, the original project proposal four years ago was for a 500 kW cogeneration plant. The family decided to scale down and modify the project to a 100 kW thermal only plant as a direct 16 Bioenergy International No 79, 3-2015 consequence of the enactment of RD 1/2012, the infamous piece of legislation that cut green electricity feed-in tariffs. The permit itself is though valid for a plant up to the original project size and output allowing the possibility to scale-up and/or generate electricity should business and legislative conditions change. Commissioned in August 2014, Santibañez Energy supplies heat on demand for a neighbouring poultry-processing plant belonging to the Hidalgo Group. The factory demand amounts to 1 000 tonnes of steam at 7 bar, equivalent to an estimated 800 MWh per annum. Most of this heat is needed for sterilisation of the meat packaging containers and some is needed for the cooking processes. The biogas is combusted in a 100 kW gas boiler and an underground pipe transfers the hot water to the slaughterhouse. – Heat is supplied according to our customer’s needs, which are currently during the night from midnight to 8 am. If necessary, we could run the boiler longer and accumulate the heat in accumulator tanks, explained Juan María Photo: Hidalgo Group
Bioenergy no 3 May 2015
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