Plenium Companions, an impartial Spanish funding group centered on renewable vitality, vitality transition, round financial system, and social infrastructure, has secured over €25 million in funding from ING Italia to help its first biomethane plant in Italy. The financing was structured via a bilateral Challenge Finance settlement.
The plant is positioned within the province of Pavia, in northern Italy’s Lombardy area, and is predicted to start operations within the first quarter of 2026. It’s a part of a broader platform of 4 biomethane vegetation being developed throughout the nation, following an settlement closed in July final 12 months with Aragorn Worth Management. Every of the deliberate vegetation has a capability of round 500 normal cubic metres per hour.
This preliminary facility has already taken half within the third biomethane tariff public sale organised by GSE, Italy’s renewable vitality incentive physique. It is going to course of roughly 50,000 tonnes of livestock and agricultural waste yearly, contributing to higher native waste administration. The plant can be among the many few in Italy designed for full CO₂ restoration, which implies it can have a stronger affect by way of greenhouse fuel emission reductions in comparison with normal services.
A step ahead in Italy’s vitality transition
The concept for the platform was launched in mid-2024, when Plenium Companions, alongside Aragorn Worth Management, dedicated to constructing and working 4 biomethane vegetation in numerous areas of Italy, with an funding exceeding €100 million. This was performed via Plenium’s Ecualia Capital fund, with the objective of contributing to cleaner vitality manufacturing and supporting native growth.
Based in Spain in 2007, Plenium Companions has had a presence in Italy since 2010, with an workplace in Rome and an current portfolio of greater than 35 operational photovoltaic tasks. The brand new financing marks one other step within the group’s effort to develop and diversify its investments in Europe. The corporate plans to proceed exploring alternatives within the biomethane sector past the present platform.
ING’s position within the financing aligns with its broader dedication to supporting renewable vitality tasks in Italy and contributing to the worldwide shift in the direction of a low-carbon financial system. By way of its Rising the Distinction technique, ING goals to mobilise €150 billion in sustainable finance by 2027 and improve its annual renewable vitality financing to €7.5 billion by 2025.
Biomethane and its position in Europe
Biomethane is more and more seen as a related renewable vitality supply in Europe. It helps scale back waste by changing supplies like manure, agricultural residues, and meals waste into vitality, which in flip cuts landfill use and air pollution.
These vegetation can even strengthen rural economies by creating jobs and providing new income alternatives to farmers and livestock house owners who provide the natural materials.