We saw it with the energy crisis following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, gas prices have exploded. It suddenly appeared to everyone that we needed alternatives to the gas, in particular Russian gas, which we use for our industries, our power stations and the boilers of Walloon households. Biomethanization, making renewable gas from agricultural or food industry waste, is one of the solutions.
This is why the intermunicipal Ceneo, accounting for no less than 1.2 billion euros in assets belonging to 57 municipalities and three intermunicipal economic development (Igretec, Idea, Ideta), is launching several projects. Objective: to inject local and Walloon gas into the Ores network, and at the same time bring dividends to the municipalities.
“We already have a biomethanation station in Thuin, but it works in cogeneration, that is to say that the gas collected is directly burned to produce heat and electricity”explains Raphaël Durant, General Secretary of Ceneo. “But here we are going to develop new stations all over Hainaut to directly inject gas into the Ores public network.” A bit like what the Bois d’Arnelle, a private company in Bons Villers near Charleroi, already does: use agricultural waste, grass, potato peelings or animal manure, let it ferment and harvest the biomethane who escapes.
The first project is well advanced in Leuze-en-Hainaut, the permit has been obtained and construction should begin in the coming months. With the Chimay group (beers and cheese, Editor’s note), another project is planned for 2025. “We will also take advantage of Europe’s Just Transition Fund – FTJ – to launch additional projects, which should be operational by 2027 at the latest”, adds Loïc D’Haeyer, socialist president of the intermunicipal company. It is a question here of two biomethanization stations in the Charleroi region, including one probably in Courcelles, two around Tournai and one in Dour.
“We are a holding company, so to build and run the biogas stations, we make public-private partnerships”, adds the elected, also mayor of Fleurus. “This makes it possible to share the risks with the private sector, to have companies whose job it is to build and operate the stations with every interest for them that they work, and to help with the energy transition since everyone will not pass the course of electrification immediately. And, icing on the cake, it makes it possible to maximize the use of the Ores gas network: since we already have this network, we might as well exploit it.”