Valio Group: on biogas plant progress in Finland

Helsinki / FI. (val) Suomen Lantakaasu Oy, the joint venture of Valio Group and energy company St1, is planning to build Finland’s biggest biogas production plant in in Upper Savo, Finland. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy has granted EUR 19.2 million in funding for construction of Suomen Lantakaasu Oy’s biogas and liquefaction plant. The biogas plant will use dairy farm manure and agricultural by-products to produce renewable, liquefied biogas for use as transport fuel.

Suomen Lantakaasu Oy aims to produce a total of 1 Terawatt of renewable transport fuel, which corresponds to a quarter of Finland’s biogas target by 2030. St1 will distribute the biogas through its own nationwide network of fuelling stations for heavy-duty vehicles. The planned annual production capacity of the first biogas production plant is 125 Gigawatt, and the goal is for the plant to be operational by 2026.

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy’s funding decision is conditional, as it is subject to approval by the European Commission. The funding will come from Europe’s RRF Recovery and Resilience Facility.

When realised, the biogas plant will bring significant investments, tax revenue and new economic activity to Upper Savo. The plant complex will provide employment, both directly and indirectly, in example to logistics operators in the region.

The targeted production capacity of 1TWh would correspond to 100 million litres of traditional diesel and the production plant in Upper Savo would correspond to 12 million litres of diesel fuel. Thus, the biogas production will reduce food production and transport emissions. The biogas value chain also efficiently recycles nutrients and decreases nutrient run-off into water systems.