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Conversation with Florian Fuchsluger, Managing Director of Fuchsluger GmbH and producer of biomethaneIn recent weeks and months, specific inquiries regarding network access for new biomethane plants have increased. That's good, because biomethane belongs online! We want to use this opportunity to find out more about these biomethane plants and their operators: Conversation with Florian Fuchsluger, Managing Director of Fuchsluger GmbH and producer of biomethane (www.fuchsluger.com). Please introduce yourself in brief words: My name is Florian Fuchsluger, I am 48 years old, married and have two children. I have been managing director of Fuchsluger GmbH together with my brother since 2011. I graduated from the technical college for industrial engineering and mechanical engineering in Waidhofen/Ybbs. I completed an MBA specialising in waste and recycling management in 2018. My hobbies are music and hunting. Introduce your plant (technology, performance, use of raw materials, utilisation of fermentation residues...) Our plant in Aschbach is realised as a dry fermentation plant with 8 fermenter and 8 rotting tunnels. The input material will be biowaste and green waste. The fermenters will process approx. 40,000 tonnes per year and feed up to 15 GWh of energy into the public grid as biomethane. The fermentation residues produced will be processed into compost in the connected rotting tunnels with the addition of shrub cuttings. What motivated you to feed biomethane into the grid, even without an existing subsidy programme? The topic of generating energy from biomass had been on my father's mind since the 1970s. Initially realised in the form of several small and large district heating plants, it led to the construction of two CHP plants that were also used to substitute natural gas in a food processing plant. The technology we have now built makes it possible for the first time to produce truly ‘clean and sustainable’ biomethane from biogenic waste, taking into account all the general conditions. Specifically, I am talking here about reasonable working conditions for employees, reducing emissions to the environment and avoiding microplastics in the digestate. Our company has been producing soil substrates for horticulture for many years. Here in particular, the quality of the product is very important. No other technology currently makes it possible to produce such high-quality and almost 100% microplastic-free compost from biogenic waste. By taking all these arguments into account, it was also possible to approach purchasing and sales partners. In the past, the operating methods of some biogas plants in particular have led to a great deal of scepticism on the market, e.g. with regard to digestate. My idea was to develop an overall concept to give customers the certainty that their renewable gas is produced sustainably from start to finish, including the origin of the substrates and the further processing of the fermentation residues. In EVN, we have found a long-term partner who shares our vision and enables the realisation of the project even without a subsidy regime. This project will make it possible to replace the natural gas requirements of around 1,200 households with sustainably produced biomethane. What role will renewable gas play in the energy transition? How can it succeed? In my opinion, renewable gas will always play a role, provided it is produced in accordance with the points I mentioned earlier. Regionality and sustainability will be important to some, and in future to more and more customers. However, we also need to reconsider the attitude of policy-makers as to the extent to which, on the one hand, emphasis should be placed on mandatory ‘cascading’ utilisation of biogenic waste or, on the other hand, the production of biomethane from waste should be made more attractive by means of a subsidy system. In order to achieve the climate targets that have been set and to further reduce dependence on fossil gas imports, there is no way around the promotion of ‘green gas’. We need to move from talk to action, especially in Austria: Increasing the domestic production of biomethane will help to further secure our energy supply and make us more independent. With the introduction of a tried and tested EU-compliant subsidy model (such as a market premium), biomethane plants can be expanded in a timely manner. What are your wishes and expectations of a new government (regulatory, feed-in model, subsidy scheme)? Green gas will not work without subsidies or start-up aid. That's why a well thought-out ‘Renewable Gas Act’ needs to be passed quickly. I would like to see a practical law with minimal bureaucracy. There needs to be a clear legal framework for such a subsidy and a standardised verification procedure to enable a secure market ramp-up. The subsidy in the form of a market premium, for example, should be so attractive for entrepreneurs that it triggers investment in the production and feed-in of ‘green gases’ into the public grid. And we need: An EU-wide standardised verification system that enables (international) trade. This should all go hand in hand - and without ideological blinkers. |
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