Waga Energy and Ferrovial Servicios to deliver massive landfill gas-to-biomethane project in Spain

The Can Mata project is the first landfill gas injection project in Europe to be financed by a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

GRENOBLE, France, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ferrovial Servicios, a leading global service operator, has selected Waga Energy to produce biomethane at the Can Mata landfill, one of Spain's largest landfill, near Barcelona. The site will be the first in Spain to use the WAGABOX® purification technology, developed by Waga Energy to recover landfill gas in the form of biomethane, a renewable substitute for natural gas.

The WAGABOX® unit at the Can Mata site will be commissioned in 2022. It will treat up to 2,200 m³/h of landfill gas and inject 70 GWh of biomethane per year into the gas grid of the Spanish operator Nedgia, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 14,000 Spanish households or 200 lorries. The project will avoid the emission of 17,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year by substituting renewable gas for natural gas.

This is the first ever landfill gas injection project to be financed by a long-term power purchase agreement in Europe. This method of financing is common for renewable electricity projects, but rarely used for green gas projects, generally unable to provide buyers with a competitive price over the long term.

This first-ever "Biomethane Purchase Agreement" has been made possible thanks to the proven efficiency of the WAGABOX® technology, combined to Waga Energy's unique expertise in the management of landfill gas injection projects.

The two partners have adopted a business model that guarantees high performance throughout the project cycle. Waga Energy will purchase landfill gas from Ferrovial Servicios and finance the construction and operation of the WAGABOX® unit, manage relations with the gas network operator, and the sale of the biomethane. Waga Energy will invest 7.5 million euros to commission the unit and connect the landfill to the gas grid, located four kilometers away.

The result of 10 years of R&D within Air Liquid group and Waga Energy, WAGABOX® is a breakthrough technology for upgrading landfill gas into grid-compliant biomethane. It combines membrane filtration and cryogenic distillation to separate the methane from other compounds of landfill gas. Ten units are already in operation in France, supplying 35,000 homes and avoiding 45,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year.