Summary

Punkalaidun is an agrarian municipality of 2 900 inhabitants. It is located on the best Finnish farming soils in the southwest part of the country. Animal husbandry, especially pig farms, are typical in the area. The growing amounts of slurry has provided a challenge to local producers on how it can be best used.

The idea was thus to establish a biogas plant. Punkalaidun municipality carried out a positive feasibility study, which resulted in an immediate investment decision worth 4 million EUR. The project has a high transferability to other rural areas.

Results

The installation works on site are well underway.

The treatment capacity is 10 000 tonnes of animal manure, crop residues and residues from food industry per year.

The estimated annual output is 1 200 000 Nm3 of biogas with a gross energy content of around 6 400 MWh, equivalent to an annual fuel requirement of 550-600 natural gas vehicles.