finance giant Goldman Sachs confirms its commitment to fully enter the biomethane business (a renewable gas produced from biogas produced by recycling organic waste) and launches its investment plan in this business through the new company Verdalia Bioenergy With the first purchasing operation in Spain.
Verdalia Bioenergy’s plans include investing more than 1,000 million Euros in biomethane production facilities in Europe, with a particular focus on the Spanish market. The first stop on this roadmap is an agreement with Aurea Green Gass to purchase a portfolio of projects currently under development in Spain with a total capacity of 150 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year.
Take control of Goldman Sachs five biogas projects Currently in development in Castilla y León, Cantabria, Basque Country and Catalonia With the capacity to supply gas to more than 15,000 homes. According to the figures released by both companies to the public, the biomethane facilities within the scope of the agreement will employ 80 people and reduce the environmental impact of the livestock sector by reducing the methane emissions released into the atmosphere by 1,276 tons per year.
In the operation, in which KPMG and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo are involved as consultants, Aurea Green Gass is expected to continue the management of the plants. Aurea has set a goal of achieving a biomethane production capacity of 1,000 GWh per year by 2030.
Goldman Sachs plan
Thus, Goldman Sachs begins the journey of its billion-dollar biomethane investment plan through Verdalia Bioenergy, which it has taken under the management of the finance giant. Former Redexis executives Fernando Bergasa and Critina ÁvilaOne of the largest gas network operators in the Spanish market, of which Goldman Sachs is a shareholder until 2018. Verdalia Bioenergy’s strategy includes the development, acquisition, construction and operation of biomethane plants across Europe. The company will seek to invest both in projects in the early stages of development and in larger operating assets.
Biomethane is a biogas obtained by the decomposition of residues from agriculture, animal husbandry or wastewater, and mixed with domestic and industrial equipment, which has been subjected to a cleaning process to make it compatible with existing natural gas. today it uses gas and also with existing gas networks.
Biomethane in Spain
According to a recent report by the Spanish Gas Association (Sedigás), Spain has the potential to produce 163 terawatt hours (TWh) of biomethane per year.would have managed to meet 45% of all natural gas demand of Spain last year and would save approximately 4 billion euros on consumers’ energy bills due to the reduction in gas purchases from third countries. In 2022, biomethane production did not even reach 0.25 TWh.
Realizing the entire national potential for the production of this renewable gas, according to Sedigás’ estimates in his ‘Study of Spain’s biomethane production capacity’, 2,326 private facilities nationwide, compared to the six currently in operation and about 200 projects that companies are planning. The construction of these more than two thousand facilities will require an investment of approximately €40,500 million by 2030 and the creation of 62,000 direct and indirect jobs related to their operation and maintenance.