In Italy, CycleØ Group Ltd, a UK-based developer, owner and operator of biomethane plants in Europe, has announced the successful commissioning of its brownfield Corte Pila plant in Mantua Province in the Lombardy region that has begun injecting biomethane (aka renewable natural gas - RNG) into the gas grid.
According to a statement, this key milestone follows the acquisition and planned conversion of this operational biogas-to-electricity plant to biomethane production earlier this year.
Operational since 2012, Corte Pila, in Mantua Province in the Lombardy region of
Italy, will now convert up to 54,000 tonnes per annum of agricultural feedstock
(primarily slurry and manure) to produce an average of 44 GWh per annum of
biomethane, directly injected into the new gas grid injection point also constructed at the site, as part of CycleØ’s overall planned €200 million of
investments in Italy.
The plant will be operated by CycleØ with the continued involvement of previous
owner Franco Angeli, who takes a seat on the management Board of Corte Pila.
The plant provides a waste management solution for the local agricultural community and aids local economic development, while generating RNG to support Italy’s energy transition.
Second Italian facility nears completion
This commissioning precedes the completion of the first CycleØ greenfield
biomethane plant in Italy, known as Green Park 5, which is in the final stages of
construction at Pontinia in the Lazio region.
Combined with Corte Pila, the two plants will produce up to a total of 90 GWh, or 8 million Nm3 of RNG per annum, enough to meet the average annual gas needs of around 6,000 Italian homes.
This is an important milestone for CycleØ as we begin biomethane production and injection in Italy. Corte Pila is the first of a series of plants that we will build or acquire as we establish a leading position in the Italian biomethane market under a planned €200 million investment program. We are executing our strategy to build, own and operate the distributed European gas infrastructure of the future, strengthening critical energy security while accelerating the transition away from fossil gas. This is just the beginning, and we expect to announce further developments in Italy very soon, said Laurence Molke, CEO at CycleØ.
Expanding European RNG portfolio
With these two Italian plants, CycleØ’s European RNG portfolio of planned and operational plants has now expanded to 19.
This includes seven operational agri-centric greenfield and industrial waste-to-energy brownfield plants across Spain (Catalonia, Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia), plus firm plans to build and operate another 10 plants in Ireland and Denmark.
CycleØ also developed and owns the first stand-alone, privately operated injection point on the Spanish gas grid, located in Catalonia.
