Nation’s largest biogas plant inaugurated
09/13/2012 06:43
Plant in Be’er Tuviya will be able to provide electricity equivalent to the consumption needs of more than 6,000 homes.
Be’er Tuviya Biogas plant. Photo: Courtesy Be’er Tuviya Regional Council
Local and national government officials in Be’er Tuviya on Monday evening
inaugurated Israel’s largest biogas plant, which will produce usable electricity
from dairy and chicken farm waste.
In addition to providing a needed
supplement of electricity to the region, the new plant will also help address
ongoing concerns about water resource contamination issues as well as smells
emanating from dairy barns and chicken coops, according to a statement from the
Be’er Tuviya Regional Council.
“The facility will provide an end solution
to farmers and to the environment,” said Dror Shor, head of the Be’er Tuviya
Regional Council.
“Thanks to these projects, we do not need more
polluting power plants.”
During the coming months, the NIS 10 million
facility, owned by the company Eco Energy, will begin operating and transforming
the waste into green energy, according to the council.
While two similar
facilities already operate in northern Israel, this newest one is the largest
and is expected to have a capacity of 4 megawatts. The plant will be able to
provide an amount of electricity equivalent to the consumption needs of more
than 6,000 homes, the council reported.
The waste will be collected from
dairy farms across Israel and delivered in closed containers to the council,
where it will then undergo pasteurization.
After this process, the waste
will then pass into two concrete tanks devoid of oxygen, where the contents will
emit the methane biogas – which can in turn be transformed into
electricity.
Meanwhile, the remaining solid waste can be used as
fertilizer, the council explained.
Because the facility will likely
handle between 10 and 15 percent of the Israel’s dairy farm waste, it will
significantly contribute to reducing the environmental damage caused by such
waste to water resources, as well as the odors spread throughout the air,
according to the council.
“We saw that in Ramat Hagolan, the possibility
to operate bed and breakfasts in moshavim, made possible only after the
activation of a facility that solved the problem of odors and flies from barns,”
said Shay Levy, the owner of Eco Energy.
“In the first phase, the
facility will handle the waste of 14,000 dairy cows. This is the
forefront of technology.”