Ämmänsuo waste processing centre now utilizes nearly all biogas

A new expansion at the Ämmänsuo waste processing centre of HSY Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority has expanded biogas waste processing capacity. The Ämmänsuo biogas power station utilizes nearly all biogas retrieved from the waste disposal site and turns it into electricity.

After the 1.3 megawatt expansion, the Ämmänsuo biogas power generator can produce up to 17 megawatts of electricity, which is sufficient to run all processes at the Ämmänsuo operations, or sufficient to heat 8,000 single family houses. All electricity not utilized locally is fed into the grid. In addition to electricity, the power station produces roughly 8 megawatts of district heat.

The expansion consists of heat exchangers, which retrieve the flue gases of the biogas station, and the contained energy is turned into electricity.

The biogas plant at Ämmänsuo was opened in May 2010. HSY received an energy subsidy from Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy for the investment.

The power station was awarded the first-ever Climate Act of the Year prize of Finnish Energy Industries (Energiateollisuus ry) in 2010. Methane contained in biogas is a powerful greenhouse gas, so retrieval of biogas significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions from waste disposal sites.

Retrieval of biogas at Ämmänsuo was begun in 1996. The gas was first processed conventionally by burning. In 2004 the waste processing centre started to deliver biogas for district heat production.