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08.07.10

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Double debut for EnviTec Biogas in Wales

First UK biogas plant of EnviTec Biogas produces biogas solely from waste from the food industry

Lohne, July 8, 2010 – EnviTec Biogas, the European industry leader in the construction of biogas plants, continues its international expansion. The company from Lohne, Lower Saxony in Germany, will build its first British biogas plant in Rogerstone, a district of Newport, Wales, for UK company InSource Energy. InSource Energy is a specialist developer of onsite waste-to-energy solutions for the food and drink processing sector and will draw on EnviTec’s expertise in anaerobic digestion for the project, which is partly funded by the Welsh government. The new plant will be built in the immediate vicinity of the Rogerstone Park ready-meals factory of RF Brookes, a subsidiary of UK food giant Premier Foods. It will generate heat and electricity from the company’s food waste. “The project is a major step forwards in the utilisation of biodegradable residues,” said a happy John Scott, Managing Director of InSource Energy. “It is role model for other food and drinks manufacturers on the way towards a sustainable use of their production waste.” The new biogas plant will cover up to ten percent of the energy requirements of the Rogerstone Park factory, thus helping to reduce CO2 emissions by approx. 8500 tons.

The project supports the ambitious plan of Environment Minister Jane Davidson to make Wales one of the greenest regions in the world. The small country on the west coast of Great Britain is taking climate protection seriously and aims to cover its total electricity requirements from local and renewable sources in 20 years’ time at the latest. “We want to reduce the use of fossil energy sources by 80 to 90 percent and want to achieve a comparable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Jane Davidson announced prior to the cutting of the first sod for the biogas plant in Rogerstone, to which she had been invited as an honorary guest.

At the same time, Wales aims to increase the waste reuse rates to 70 percent by the year 2025, when only five percent of the total waste should go into landfills. The country even aims to be totally waste-free by the year 2050. Biogas plants, which use biodegradable waste to generate heat and electricity, are indispensable to achieve this ambitious target. “EnviTec Biogas is a world leader in anaerobic digestion technology with many plants operating in Europe and elsewhere. We are delighted to be entering the UK market with this project,” said Roel Slotman, Board member in charge of international sales at EnviTec Biogas AG.

The construction of the biogas plants is a double debut for EnviTec. The reference project in Rogerstone, UK, not only marks the company’s entry into a new market but is also the first plant to produce biogas solely from food waste. The company thus draws on and expands its experience in the utilisation of waste from the food industry. EnviTec has built numerous plants around the world which use a very high percentage of food waste. The Rogerstone project is the first to exploit the full technical potential of an EnviTec plant and to digest 100% food waste.

About EnviTec Biogas AG

EnviTec Biogas AG covers the entire value chain for the production of biogas - including the planning and turnkey construction of biogas plants as well as their commissioning. The company provides the biological and technical service, and also offers full plant and operating management. In Güstrow, in the German state of Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, EnviTec Biogas built the world's largest plant for the production of biogas to natural gas standards with a thermal output of 55 megawatts. In addition, the company also operates its own biogas plants. Today, the company is represented in more than 15 countries throughout Europe, as well as in India. EnviTec Biogas generated revenues of EUR 120 million and EBIT of EUR -0.5 million in 2009. The EnviTec Group currently has 385 employees. EnviTec has been listed on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since July 2007.

Company contact:
Thomas Bolte EnviTec Biogas AG
Tel: +49 25 74 88 88-198
E-mail:  t.bolte@envitec-biogas.de

Press contact:
Britta Cirkel, Christina Siebels
HOSCHKE & CONSORTEN Public Relations GmbH
Tel: +49 40 36 90 50- 56 /-58
E-mail: b.cirkel@hoschke.de;  c.siebels@hoschke.de

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