HoSt celebrates first biogas project in Japan: progress towards realising a decarbonised society through the use of recycled food resources
On 8 November 2023, Tana Power Plant of Sagamihara Biogas Power, Inc. (SBP), which generates renewable energy from discarded food, was officially opened, marking the first biogas project for HoSt in Japan. The opening of the new methane fermentation plant commissioned by SBP, a new company established by Japan Food Ecology Center (J.FEC) and other investors in September 2021, provided an opportunity to showcase state-of-the-art methanation technology from the Netherlands. For the Netherlands, which is a leading country in the field of circular agriculture, this further utilisation of food recycling resources is a major step towards the realisation of a decarbonised society through cooperation between Japan and the Netherlands.
In attendance at the opening ceremony was Mr. Theo Peters, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan, who gave a congratulatory speech. Also present was Mr. Ebel Jan Snoeijer, Project Manager of HoSt BV, the Dutch company contracted to provide design and operational support for the methane fermentation plant. The ceremony was attended by about 80 people, including government officials from the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Sagamihara City and domestic suppliers.
In his congratulatory speech, the Chargé d'Affaires said, “Today, we celebrate another step forward towards a better protection of our common environment: global warming knows no border”. The Netherlands, which aims to achieve fully circular agriculture by 2030 and a fully circular economy by 2050, will work with other countries to contribute to these transitions on a global scale.
The power plant is designed to generate renewable energy from discarded food to solve the problem of food loss, which has become a social issue. Fifty tonnes of biomass are processed daily to produce 530 kW of electricity and 640 kW of heat. A combined heat and power system provides 4,500 MWh of renewable electricity annually to the regional grid and 5,200 MWh of renewable heat to neighbouring plant processes.
Photos by LAN-Japan