Our biogas plant is a central element of our circular economy. It supplies nutrients as well as energy and heat for the growth of our organic vegetables.
In our efforts to use nature’s best energy sources, Westhof Energie consistently focuses on renewable energies such as wind, solar and biomass. Through sustainable projects for the generation and marketing of renewable energies, we aim to provide environmentally friendly electricity and heat and make a contribution to the sustainable use of resources.
Our sustainable energy projects cover various areas. In addition to the use of wind and solar energy, we also produce energy from our own biogas plant and a total of 10 combined heat and power plants. We attach particular importance to the fact that the biogas plant only ferments vegetable waste as well as flowering meadow and clover grass cuttings from the crop rotation. This not only ensures an environmentally friendly source of energy, but also prevents food competition for our organic vegetable cultivation.
It is not only our energy generation that is green – we are also committed to the sustainable and resource-conserving use of water, a scarce resource. In view of changing climatic conditions and the associated challenges, such as the increasing need to irrigate fields in summer, we are faced with new tasks. In the immediate vicinity of the North Sea, the salt content of the groundwater is too high, which is why we are dependent on the drinking water network. At the height of summer, we are regularly confronted with irrigation bans.
To meet these challenges, we rely on innovative water management solutions. We use a state-of-the-art water treatment plant to purify the process water from our freezing plant. The organic residues are converted into biogas. The treated water is stored in an open, natural lagoon and then used to irrigate our fields to ensure the quality of our organic vegetables.
Our biogas plant is unique compared to other plants, as we also use the exhaust gases from the combined heat and power units. Everything that comes out of the engine or normally out of the chimney can be processed and used as fertilizer in the form of into the greenhouse as fertilizer in the form of CO2.
Nils Wieczorek, Projektleiter Westhof Energie
Zum Westhof 6, DE-25764 Friedrichsgabekoog
+ 49 4839 9535-0
info(at)westhof-bio.de