Gotland biogas drives a more sustainable Gotland

Since September 2023, Gotlandsbolaget has been a partner in the Gotland-based company EnergiSkiftet Sverige, which produces, develops and sells biogas through its Biogas Gotland, BroGas and Gotlands Fastbränsle businesses.

Today, biogas on Gotland is mainly used for the island’s buses and in parts of the industry. A major advantage of biogas is that it can be used in traditional fossil fuel vehicles, and it is possible to convert gasoline cars to gas cars – then the car’s climate impact can be reduced by up to 80 percent. On Gotland, there are around 1000 registered gas vehicles, and 70% of public transport runs on biogas.

Magnus Ahlsten is the founder and chairman of BroGas, which produces about 30 GWh of biogas per year, equivalent to about three million liters of gasoline.

– We produce biogas locally on Gotland using residues from the island. It is about food scraps, manure and other organic waste that is digested in an anaerobic environment, to be converted into an environmentally friendly vehicle fuel,” says Magnus Ahlsten.

The biogas is transported via a gas pipeline from the plant in Bro to Visby, where it is distributed to Arla’s dairy, Gotland’s slaughterhouse and Biogas Gotland Visby.
From there, it is either used directly in production or refined into vehicle gas for some of Gotland’s four biogas stations. The local production and use of the gas has several positive side effects.

– We recycle materials from the biogas process into biofertilizer, resulting in the production of 90 thousand tons of biofertilizer each year, which is used on the fields of Gotland. In addition, we reduce the distance between fuel production and use. If the biogas had been produced elsewhere, we would have had to transport it here and that in turn would also have created emissions,” says Magnus Ahlsten.

There is great interest in and demand for biogas, and Magnus says that the company is planning a second plant, Sudretgas, in southern Gotland. In the long term, Gotland traffic could also use Gotland-produced biogas.

– Shipping is one of the sectors that can already mix biogas in the tank today, but to be used in today’s traffic, it needs to be cooled and liquefied. In the long term, we hope to be part of shipping,” says Magnus Ahlsten.

Biogas production is part of the local energy supply on Gotland, which shows the potential of utilizing the energy from the own waste.