Bioenergy plant in Buczek is an investment implemented by Eteron with the involvement of European funding under the Infrastructure and Environment Programme. Considering the good economic conditions for green energy, the plant, with the capacity of 1.8 MWe, generated the highest rate of return among the Group’s companies.

At the beginning of 2012, with the launching of installation works, the price of certificates of origin at the Polish Power Exchange was PLN 270/MWh. It confirmed a good atmosphere for biogas investments in Poland. From the beginning, however, the implementation of the project in Buczek remained in doubt. The delay in payment of the grant coincided with the financial problems of the main installation contractor, Tugeb-Polbud Sp. z o.o. In addition to delayed completion date the growing oversupply in the market of green energy further complicated the situation. Certificate prices began to decline steadily. This information also had a negative impact on the bank’s involvement, which significantly reduced its funding. It resulted in a long process of discussions with partners about the future of bioenergy plant in Buczek.

The installation was commissioned in December 2014, after the bankruptcy of the main contractor. The bioenergy plant, thanks to Eteron Group’s capital and effective negotiations with subcontractors, began producing green energy. The unfavourable situation on the market of property rights of RES, however, caused the certificate price to range between 160 and 150 PLN/MWh with a downward trend. The company was unprofitable. In order for the plant to continue its operation, it was necessary to change the original business model, based mainly on the production of electricity, for a more diversified approach.

Further work on new developments was initiated. In September 2015, Buczek was the only agricultural biogas plant in Poland processing slaughterhouse waste that obtained the qualification for the digestate as a soil improver, issued by the Minister of Agriculture. Starting from 2016, the plant’s reprocessing operations have become the main branch of the company’s revenues.

Today Buczek is a bioenergy plant of the highest energy efficiency among all biogas plants in Poland. It supplies digestate to more than 100 farms in the region and is a company reprocessing an average of 9 000 tonnes of waste per month. Regulatory changes in the RES market and the introduction of blue certificates for biogas plants allow to regain the effectiveness of installation also in the area of energy production.

Leader: Dawid Kunc
Plant’s manager: Tomasz Jasiński
Website: bioelektrownia-buczek.pl