Finland-headed gas and energy company Gasum Oy has announced new "ambitious goals with sustainability as an integral part of the company’s new strategy." In practice, Gasum aims to shift the emphasis of its business and operations more towards renewable gas and electricity.
As part of this shift toward more renewable natural gas (RNG), Gasum has set a new ambitious goal of bringing 7 TWh worth of RNG (aka biomethane) annually to the Nordic market by the year 2027.
This means significant investments in increasing Gasum’s own biogas production as well as sourcing more RNG from trusted partners.
Gasum currently produces biogas in 17 plants in Finland and Sweden from different waste streams such as sewage sludge, manure, and biowaste. The CO2 emissions reduction from using biogas compared to fossil fuel use is on average as high as 90 percent.
Using manure for biogas production can even have a carbon negative impact, meaning an emissions reduction of more than 100 percent.
Ramping up availability
Finland, Sweden, and Norway together currently produce about 4 TWh of biogas per year. Denmark is the largest biogas producer in the Nordic region with around 8 TWh produced annually.
The increase in Gasum’s supply alone to 7 TWh at the Nordic level means a significant increase in availability.
Using 7 TWh of RNG instead of fossil fuels would also mean a cumulative annual reduction of 1.8 million tonnes of CO2.
There is still much to do to decarbonize land and sea transportation as well as industrial processes. Increasing biogas availability in these segments is a way of reducing emissions sooner rather than later. The switch to biogas can happen almost at the snap of your fingers because biogas is fully interchangeable with natural gas wherever it is currently used, said Mika Wiljanen, CEO of Gasum Group.
First of five big biogas plants on the way
In 2022 Gasum delivered 1.7 TWh of biogas to its customers which suggests a rapid ramp-up of biogas production needs to take place over the coming five years in order to reach the 7 TWh of annual RNG production capacity by 2027.
However, Mika Wiljanen is confident that the goal is reachable.
For example, we’ve just started construction on the first of five large biogas plants we’re planning to construct in Sweden. The Götene plant, which will be constructed during 2023–2024, will produce 120 GWh of biogas per year. Multiply that by five and you go a long way to reaching that goal by 2027. But we do have a few other plans up our sleeves as well, Mika Wiljanen said.
Expand renewable power capabilities
In accordance with the new strategy, Gasum is also investing in improving its capabilities in the renewable electricity market, to offer its customers a full energy and emissions management service.
In 2022 Gasum traded 7.3 TWh worth of Guarantees of Origin (GO) for renewable electricity generated by wind, hydro, solar power, or bioenergy, an increase of nearly 18 percent year on year.
Emission reductions and sustainable business, in general, are at the core of Gasum’s new strategy. Sustainability for Gasum means striving to continuously reduce emissions for customers and keeping the company’s own emissions to a minimum.
For example, Gasum uses only renewable electricity in its own operations.
Gasum has committed to the UN Global Compact initiative on corporate sustainability and reports on sustainability in accordance with the GRI Standards. The company has just released its 2022 sustainability report.
