Agreement for the establishment of its compressed biomethane production plant DEPA Trade at the FARMA CHITAS factory in Preveza, the company announced today, speaking of a new era in the field of biomethane production and use in the national transport system, as it is the first unit in the country.

According to the relevant information, a biogas system for the co-production of electricity and thermal energy is already operating at the FARMA CHITAS unit.

DEPA will procure part of the biogas production which will be upgraded to biomethane, compressed at high pressure and stored in special cylinders / storage arrays. It will then be transported through its supply chain DEPA / FISIKON to the nearest gas station in Ioannina, but also to other nearby gas stations (e.g. Igoumenitsa, Psathopyrgos, Kozani, Veria), in case the amount of biomethane produced exceeds the demand needs of the Ioannina gas station. Additionally, there is an alternative option of transporting the compressed biomethane to feed a remote natural gas network. The project is expected to enter commercial operation within 2024, with an initial annual production of approximately 1m Nm3 of biomethane.

The Managing Director of DEPA Emporia Konstantinos Xifaras noted that “Today we took an important step to utilize in our country the new forms of “green” energy, through our agreement with FARMA CHITAS for the development of the first compressed air production unit in Greece of biomethane from DEPA Emporias. It is an innovative, pilot project, the implementation of which is an important development for the national energy strategy but also for the effort to achieve the environmental goals of the European Union, giving DEPA the advantage of being a pioneer in the field of production and use of bio-CNG in the national transport system. At the same time, we have the opportunity, through this project, to become more familiar with the technology and to collect important data for our wider activity in this field”.

As explained by Dr. Kyriaki Karakitsou, Director of Affiliate Monitoring Activities and Coordinator of the Project Management Office of DEPA Emporia: “Biomethane is a renewable fuel with a zero carbon footprint that will contribute to the sustainable energy transition at an affordable cost, and to the reduction of our country’s energy dependence. In order to become more familiar with the respective technologies and to collect the data for their evaluation and scale-up, we started in 2021, the design of a pilot project to upgrade biogas to biomethane in an existing biogas plant and its subsequent compression and storage , with the aim of using it as a motor fuel (bio-CNG) at FISIKON stations or in remote from the grid. consumers. Today, after coordinated actions by DEPA Emporia and with our collaboration with FARMA CHITAS, we are starting the construction of the first compressed biomethane unit in Greece, with a completion horizon within the next year”.

For his part, Mr. Kon/nos Chita, CEO of FARMA CHITAS, said in this regard: “FARMA CHITAS, a pioneer in the production of electricity from biogas and with its many years of experience, we are proud to cooperate with DEPA Emporias for the first compressed biomethane production project in Greece, thus contributing to the development of new forms of energy in our country and to the protection of the environment”.