AgroVista unveils $20 mln biogas plant project at Ukraine Recovery conference

AgroVista Group is preparing to build a biogas plant. The project has been fully developed and was presented to investors on July 11 at the Ukraine Recovery conference in Rome, CFO Pavlo Fesiuk told Latifundist.com.

According to Fesiuk, the company has all the resources needed for the project — feedstock, energy experience, internal gas demand, a capable team, and infrastructure. The main feedstock will include sugar beet pulp, manure, molasses, corn, sorghum, and energy silage. The facility will have a capacity of 5 MW.

“In terms of resources, it’s completely logical. We have the feedstock, we have energy experience, and we are also gas consumers. The key factor is the raw materials: pulp, manure, energy silage,” Fesiuk said.

The project is valued at $20 million and will be multifunctional, the CFO noted. It will focus on cogeneration for selling electricity under the green tariff and potentially supplying biomethane into the gas transmission system.

Despite being ready for launch, the project is on the edge of profitability — primarily due to the lack of green tariffs or European-style premiums for biogas.

“In Europe, green gas production relies heavily on substantial premiums. That’s what drives investment in this sector,” Fesiuk explained.

Still, even with zero margins, the project makes sense as a long-term business value investment, he believes.

“Even if the project just breaks even — that’s already a result. It shows we have the team, we have a self-sustaining business. Even a small loss is a plus if you see long-term value growth potential,” he emphasized.

The primary feedstock will be pulp from AgroVista’s sugar plant, which has not been upgraded for deep pressing, along with molasses, manure, and silage.

“Our sugar plant is probably one of the few that hasn't invested in pulp processing. We don’t do deep pressing. So we get pulp with 17–19% dry matter and we need to work with it,” Fesiuk said.