News

From Bulgaria

Italy’s Gruppo AB, which is among the leading European providers of cogeneration solutions for the industry, agriculture and municipalities, announced it will be presented for the first time at the SE European Exhibition on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Sofia, 5-7 March, at Inter Expo Center.

First successful installation in Bulgaria

Within the fair its Romania-based subsidiary AB Energy will present a case study of the company’s first 1 MW biogas (corn silage) plant built in Momchil, near Balchik in 2013, as well as the complete modular cogeneration solutions running on natural gas, biogas and APG.

“In terms of renewable energy, the Bulgarian market is a growing one with competitive support from the Government in terms of feed-in tariffs, and the banks which have dedicated solutions for financing renewable energy projects. Gruppo AB believes that Bulgaria represents one of the main pillars of their business future, therefore our commitment is guarantee”, declares Mr. Angelo Baronchelli, founder and President of Gruppo AB Italy.

Exploring the country’s biogas potential

After this first successful case study in Bulgaria, there AB Energy is currently working on another two plants with capacity of 0,5 MWe and 0,888 MW, respectively, with more installations to follow by end-2014.

“Specifically, looking at the Bulgarian biogas market, we can see an interesting potential, considering that last year it was approved to be installed 64 MWe from biogas. I believe that at least 50 MWe/year can be installed on biogas. The technology produces thermal power and electricity which are predictable and uniform, and can bring balance to the Bulgarian electrical network. The main benefits of cogeneration are the possibility of predicting the energy injected in the network, energy cost reduction, the opportunity of modular development of the plants and thermal efficiency”, adds Mr. Vladimir Oprescu, Regional Sales Manager AB Energy for Romania and Bulgaria.

Bio-cogeneration involves the production of electricity and heat energy recovery using agricultural and animal-farming wastes, materials from dedicated crops, or even organic household waste which increases energy and financial efficiency. Other advantages of cogeneration in the agricultural sector involve drastic reduction of odors and polluting emissions, reduction of pathogenic germs and the use of digested sludge for soil conditioning.

AB Energy’s complete and modular cogeneration technologies are created both for lower cogenerations (between 64 and 600 kWe – Linea Rossa) and for cogenerations up to 1,4 Mwe (ECOMAX BIO LINE). The biogas equipments have developed and the existing solutions allow cogenerations with engines of 2 MWe and even with 3,2 MWe.

Over 900 cogen projects operating around the world

Gruppo AB was established by Angelo Baronchelli in Italy in 1981 and it is now present in in 13 countries - Italy, Romania, Spain, Poland, Serbia, Croatia, France, Austria, Holland, The Czech Republic, UK, Brazil and Canada. The main business lines of the company are the natural gas cogeneration (for the industrial sector), the biogas cogeneration for the agricultural sector and the urban areas - municipalized companies, consortiums and institutions – that can use household waste dumps cogeneration. At an international level the AB Holding is composed of 15 specialized member companies, with over 500 employees. With a total of more than 900 running installations, Gruppo AB is totalizing more than 1200 MWe.

The Romanian branch – AB Energy, was created in 2009, it develops commercial and service activities in Romania and Bulgaria, and has installed, up to the present, 20 cogeneration plants, 18 fuelled by APG (Associated Petroleum Gas), 1 by agriculture biogas and 1 by natural gas. In 2012, Gruppo AB had an over EUR 181 m annual turnover.