Good practice:

Bioenergy Plant

Thanks to its farming sector, Epirus is a region with high potential in developing biogas projects, which however often encounter a prejudicial public opposition. It is useful to let the population know that, if properly built and managed, such plants can actually help solving environmental problems.
One successful case is represented by the Liapatis biogas plant. This plant was built to ensure the environmentally sound management of waste from poultry farms and pig farms, which would otherwise cause significant environmental problem in the nearby area. Achieving the goals in such a unit is not easy. It needs daily monitoring of many variables and proper addition of appropriate substances at regular intervals. Targets are achieved when the activity of the plant is kept at 100% so that the raw material is absorbed and there is a permanent production of electricity.
It is important to mention that the local community and the local government were positive in the licensing of the project and did not create any problems. However, they practically did not participate as it was a private investment

1.575.000,00 Euros (€)

The awareness of local communities is increasing about the positive impacts that this kind of plants can have, as they see that, in this case:
all of poultry and pig waste is used to generate electricity
clean water suitable for irrigation comes out of the plant after the treatment of waste water. In addition, the project managed to amortize its construction costs in just 7 years despite borrowing from the bank. Τhus now proven to be a profitable and sustainable investment

There have been difficulties in construction, such as the choice of the bioreactor type (metal or cement) but also in operation, with regard to the mixing of the sewage and the life of the microorganisms in the reactor.

We find this practice interesting because the environmental impact of poultry and pigs waste in the area would be very problematic if this plant did not exist. The lesson for other regions is the great importance of spreading the positive impacts of such projects.