German energy firm E.ON has commissioned Denmark’s largest biogas plant in southern Jutland.

The Sonderjysk Biogas plant has the capacity to convert about 540,000 tons of live stock manure, straw and other organic residues per into green energy.

It will inject 21 million cubic meters of biomethane into the national grid, reducing carbon emissions by 51,000 tons.

The gas will directly be sent to the nationwide gas grid. The amount of gas is enough for the consumption of 15,000 homes or 570 city buses.

The project is a 50-50 joint venture (JV) between E.ON  and Danish investor and supplier association Sønderjysk Biogas Invest (SBI).

In 2009, a group of farmers in Sonderjysk formed a supplier association and envisioned a biogas plant in the region. The association contacted E.ON and a joint venture was formed for the same purpose.

Under the JV, both E.ON and SBI have invested over €33m for the construction of the biogas plant. The plant’s construction created about 50 jobs locally and 30 to 40 local secondary jobs along with 10 permanent jobs were also created.

The livestock manure for the plant will be supplied by more than 70 local farmers who are all located within an average radius of 18 kilometres from the plant.

E.ON says that it recently opened a biogas plant in northern Jutland and with this facility in southern Jutland starting operations, it can contribute to almost one-fifth of the country’s total biomethane production upgraded and distributed to the gas grid.