Schmack Biogas of Germany has announced plans to build what it calls Europe's largest biogas plant with partners E.ON Ruhrgas and E.ON Bayern, and feed the gas into the local natural gas grid.

The plant is to generate an electrical output 4 MW. At present, most newly built biogas plants in Germany have an output of 150 kW to 500 kW.

Construction of the plant is to start immediately, with production scheduled for the end of December 2007.

The plant is designed for the fermentation of some 61,500 tonnes of natural resources per year, from which approximately 16 million cubic metres of biogas should be produced. This is expected to be sufficient to supply some 5,000 households with energy, according to the companies.

Schmack Energie Holding GmbH will be responsible for planning, construction and operation of the plant, while E.ON Bayern Wärme GmbH will market the heat and E.ON Bioerdgas GmbH will market and feed in the biogas. Each of the three partners will contribute one third to the total investment volume of about €15.8 million.

The plant will process natural materials supplied by local farmers.

"Just like our two partners, we assume that the future of the biogas market will belong to these cost-efficient large-scale plants," said Ulrich Schmack of Schmack Biogas.

Schmack is a leading German supplier of biogas plants, established in 1995. The company has built 179 plants to date with a combined nominal output of about 45 MW.