The project raises some concerns at the place called “Les Vignes” in Condat-sur-Trincou, the sign “No to the methanizer project” is still hung on the fence just before accessing the site. On the heights, in the middle of a clearing, the site began with the comings and goings of the machines which are developing the future rainwater recovery basin there, the future methanisation unit on a plot of one little more than one hectare.
A new generation biogas plant
Within 10 months to 1 year, the biogas plant will be ready to operate to create gas from organic waste. It is the second Dordogne biogas plant to produce gas, the others produce electricity and heat. It will take up less space on the surface than the other methanisers that already exist in the Dordogne, it will be more discreet and will consume less energy, explains Quentin Laurent, in charge of methanisation at the Chamber of Agriculture.
Bertrand Esclavard is one of the three farmers behind this project. For him and his two colleagues, this makes it possible to obtain a digestate, that is to say a fertilizer for their land, to transform the slurry without spreading and also to obtain additional income with the resale of the gas. They have invested a total of five million euros in three on this project.
Failed cakes turned into gas
The future anaerobic digestion unit will recover farmers’ slurry but above all waste from two large companies located less than ten kilometers away: Mademoiselle Dessert in Condat-sur-Trincou and Saint-Michel in Champagnac-de-Belair.
“Our waste will no longer be waste tomorrow, it will become raw material to operate the methanisation plant” explains the director of Mademoiselle Dessert, Anne L’Honoré “instead of going hundreds of kilometres, they will start at three kilometres”. It’s waste eggs, flour, cream “things that will fall to the ground, cake cutouts” which were going to Spain to be transformed into animal feed and which will soon become gas. This represents 1,100 tonnes of waste per year for Mademoiselle Dessert, it is 400 tons per year for the Saint-Michel plant. According to Yann Gomez, the director of the Saint-Michel site “these products will be taken to the methanizer and then transformed into gas, this gas we will buy back to operate our ovens, this is where we are talking about the circular economy”.
Gas to supply 1,700 new homes
The gas produced by this future anaerobic digestion unit will be connected to the gas network located 400 meters away. The gas should supply 75% of the gas needs of St-Michel and 150% of the gas needs of Mademoiselle Dessert declares Bertrand Esclavard. The gas will also supply the houses in the area. According to GRDF, this represents 1,700 new gas dwellings.
In the Dordogne, nine biogas plants already exist, they were created ten years ago. Five are under construction this year explains Quentin Laurent, from the Chamber of Agriculture.