Mathieu Lefebvre, CEO and co-founder of Waga Energy, and Hélène Lebedeff, Veolia Regional Director for Storage & Recovery, Waste Recycling and Recovery Business, for Ile-de-France, signed a contract for the installation of a WAGABOX® unit at the Claye-Souilly landfill.
In early October, Waga Energy and Veolia signed a contract in Paris to install a WAGABOX® purification unit at the landfill in Claye-Souilly (France). This facility, due to be commissioned in February 2022, will produce biomethane from waste and supply 20,000 households in the Paris region with renewable gas.
Biomethane produced by the WAGABOX® unit in Claye-Souilly will be injected directly into the natural gas grid to supply private customers and companies in the Paris Basin. This will avoid 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year (by replacing natural gas, which is a fossil fuel). The landfill in Claye-Souilly will thus play an active role in the ecological transition.
This is one of the largest green gas injection projects in France and in Europe.
Third project with Veolia
Since 2006, the Veolia facility in Claye-Souilly has been using motors and turbines to recover biogas produced by waste as electricity and heat. In 2009, Veolia moreover developed the first unit producing biomethane fuel from waste-generated biogas (Meth’OD) on this site. The WAGABOX® unit will replace some of this equipment and purify 3,000m3 of biogas per hour (1,860 scfm), improving energy and environmental performance.
The Claye-Souilly project is the third green gas injection project initiated by Waga Energy and Veolia, with the first such WAGABOX® unit commissioned in November 2018 at the Saint-Palais (Cher) landfill and a second unit currently being built in Le Ham (Manche).
Construction of the WAGABOX® unit and its connection to the natural gas grid will require investment of €10 million, which will be provided by Waga Energy. The Veolia Group will make the necessary adjustments to its site to accommodate the equipment, which will cost €1 million.
Hélène Lebedeff, Veolia Regional Director for Storage & Recovery, Waste Recycling and Recovery Business, for Ile-de-France:
“Large-scale industrial solutions need to be implemented if we are to meet the European framework target of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Recovery of biogas sourced from final landfill waste is one of the key drivers of our efforts to help achieve this goal. Due to its size and impact, this major project with Waga Energy perfectly embodies this approach. It is a genuine example of industrial and regional ecology, which will enable the production of local, renewable, carbon-free energy”.
Mathieu Lefebvre, CEO and co-founder of Waga Energy:
“I would like to sincerely thank the Veolia Group for its faith and commitment to helping us tackle climate change, the major challenge facing our generation. This highly innovative project reflects French industrial excellence in gas engineering and the pioneering role played by our country within the field of waste processing and recovery. It’s also a fantastic example of a partnership promoting energy transition between a large global group and an innovative young company”.