Scaling biological e-methanation as a green deal building block
The decarbonisation of natural gas – the biggest energy import product into the EU today – through the production of renewable methane from bio-e-methanation (“e-methane”), a natural gas equivalent, is one of the cornerstones of the European energy transition. Our highly productive microorganism strain and pressure bioreactor design carry the potential to solve the challenge of providing cost-effective large-scale energy storage and a multi-purpose e-fuel. Echaea are the only company worldwide to have validated a biological methanation technology in industrial prototypes that turn CO2 into e-methane, using curtailed renewable power, and storing it in existing gas grids. The fully biogenic e-fuel can be used across sectors, for transportation, power generation or industrial heating. Our technology has shown to produce grid-quality e-methane in a continuous process at a 1MW scale (Biofos, DK Solothurn, CH) and now needs to be scaled up to commercial size. The EIC grant funded project will de-risk Echaea’s Power-to-Methane solution to market-readiness. Subsequently we will build a full 10MWe commercial demonstration plant at Roslev, Denmark, funded by the EIC equity facility. 
Once industrial operations have been demonstrated, the technology is ready for international roll-out. Expressions of interest for 12 10MWe plants have already been received. We have assessed a market potential today of around 500 biological methanation plants and of 5,000 in the EU, more around the world, by 2050. Green Deal impact: One 10MW plant will convert 5,700 mt of CO2 a year and produce 2,8m Nm3 e-methane, sufficient to heat 2,400 homes. By 2050, this technology could convert 0.8% of annual CO2 released in the EU. Echaea is a venture-backed company and co-led by a female executive, Doris Hafenbradl. A multi-disciplinary team of 33 employees is pursuing the mission of becoming the global leader for renewable methane production at scale.