PRESS RELEASE

This press release reflects the status of the collaboration at the time of publication. The joint venture is no longer active.

Sauter Danmark and Stiesdal SkyClean Collaborate to Establish Agri Energy, a Cooperative Energy Company for Danish Agriculture

Biogas technology company Sauter Danmark and climate enterprise Stiesdal SkyClean have joined forces to create local, cooperative energy companies in Danish agriculture. The joint venture is named Agri Energy.

Agri Energy aims to develop biogenic energy parks in Denmark and assist local municipalities in achieving their CO₂ reduction goals.

The overarching goal of the new company is to grant agriculture ownership of the entire value chain, from biomass to bioenergy, with a long-term vision of establishing a significant cooperative focused on biogenic energy production in Denmark.

Collaboration Between Sauter Danmark and Stiesdal SkyClean
Agri Energy, the newly founded company, is a joint venture between Sauter Danmark and Stiesdal SkyClean. The two companies combine their technologies into a comprehensive concept where straw and other residues are converted into biogas. The remaining biofiber is transformed through pyrolysis into biochar and pyrolysis gas, which can be further condensed into bio-oil.

The company will concentrate on establishing energy parks, each capable of processing approximately 250,000 tons of dry matter content of residual biomass annually.

Crucial to the business concept is the involvement of farmers in both ownership and ongoing payments for biomass.

Agri Energy’s Impact on CO₂ Reduction and Circular Economy
By integrating the innovative technologies of both companies in large-scale facilities, Agri Energy aims to achieve a climate benefit of over 400,000 tons of CO₂e per year for each energy park. This equates to approximately 1% of Denmark’s total CO₂ emissions compensated by each energy park. It represents a large-scale climate effort and circular economy initiative while simultaneously creating a new revenue-generating business opportunity.

Poul Erik Jørgensen, Chairman of Agri Energy and former Agricultural Director at Nykredit, states:
“Farmers produce and own the essential raw material for biogenic energy production, biomass. We believe that farmers will not only deliver it at the gate and barn door but will follow it all the way to the sale of energy and other climate values. The time is right for a model where farmers organize themselves into owner-supplier groups and invest in ownership of energy production based on their own raw materials. Our mission is to provide the technical, organizational, and financial platform that makes it possible.”

Agri Energy Vrå: A Model for Future Biogenic Energy Parks

Sauter Danmark’s biogas technology has been extensively used for five years at the Agri Energy Vrå biogas plant. The technology allows for the substantial use of straw and bedding material in the facility. In conjunction with the Vrå biogas plant, Stiesdal SkyClean has built a 20 MW pyrolysis plant utilizing residual fibre from the biogas facility. This combination of predominantly plant-based energy production and CO₂ storage with biochar serves as a model for the biogenic energy parks that Agri Energy aims to expand throughout the country.

To establish a local biogenic energy park, supplier and owner groups must be able to provide approximately 250,000 tons of dry matter annually. When the energy park is operational, participating farmers will have access to the entire value chain, from straw to gas, and the value of the associated CO₂ reduction.

Daniel Overgaard Pedersen, majority shareholder in Sauter Danmark and owner of the Vrå biogas plant, remarks:
“I sense great interest from farmers in becoming co-owners of energy production based on their own raw materials, and it is on this basis that we are now creating a new Danish cooperative for biogenic energy production.”

Peder Nickelsen, CEO of Stiesdal SkyClean, adds:
“We are excited to expand our collaboration in Vrå. It is a natural progression for our SkyClean technology to benefit agriculture through pyrolysis. In the future, it may also be relevant to include one of Stiesdal’s other technologies in the collaboration, namely our hydrogen electrolysis technology, which can be used for the production of Power-to-X fuels.”

Agri Energy is led by Jørgen Ballermann, who has a background as the former Director of the biogas company Xergi.

For Additional Information, please contact CEO Jørgen Ballermann, +45 2527 9436, joba@agrienergy.dk

Data-sheet – key figures regarding an Agri Energy biogenic energy park on an annual basis

Energy production
Production of biomethane: 55 mio. Nm³
District heating: 53 GWh

CO₂ capture and storage (CCS)
CO₂: 100,000–140,000 tons CO₂
Biochar: 40,000 tons CO₂e

Displacement of CO₂e
Avoided emissions in agriculture: 80,000 tons CO₂e
Displacement of fossil fuels: 110,000–160,000 tons CO₂
Displacement of fossil fuels in the energy sector: 10,000 tons CO₂

Space requirement and capacity
Total estimated area of a biogenic energy park: 10–20 hectare
Total capacity measured in biomass: 750,000–1,000,000 tons
Of which the need for dry matter: 250,000 tons

Climate effect
Climate effect of displacement: 200,000–250,000 tons CO₂e
Climate effect from capture and storage: 140,000–180,000 tons CO₂e

Overall climate effect
340,000–430,000 tons CO₂e (ca. 1 % of Denmark’s total CO₂e emissions)

Website:
www.agrienergy.dk

About Sauter Denmark
Sauter Danmark is a biogas technology company offering a patented biogas technology designed to handle a high proportion of dry matter. Sauter biogas plants can thus process a
very wide range of biomass types, including residual crops from crop production. Further information about Sauter technology: www.sauter-biogas.com.

About Stiesdal SkyClean
Stiesdal SkyClean builds pyrolysis plants that convert organic residues from agriculture, forestry and industry into biochar and bioenergy.

Stiesdal SkyClean is part of Stiesdal – a climate technology company with activities in floating offshore wind, energy storage, Power-to-X hydrogen production, CO₂ capture and storage and production of green fuel.

Read more at www.stiesdal.com