Sweden’s government is spending $1.5m researching Bogotá’s biogas value chain for the transport sector and exploring developing a biogas pilot plant in the Columbian capital.
The European country has completed the first phase of the study, investing $700,000, and the second phase ($800,000) will begin during the first half of 2025.
Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán held a signing ceremony with Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, to announce the enhanced bilateral developments.
He said the collaboration with Sweden enhances its ability to address Bogotá’s challenges while allowing it to learn from a nation that excels in sustainability and innovation.
“The biogas plant is a shining example of how we can work together to develop solutions that positively impact our future,” said the mayor.
The investment, financed by Swedfund, is part of a broader financial spend exploring mutual commercial opportunities in the energy transition.
More than $80m is being spent by EQT, a Swedish investment organisation, and Zelestra, on the development of the ‘Wimke’ solar photovoltaic project in San Juan del Cesar in the La Guajira department.
Last February Colombia’s Transportadora de Gas Internacional (TGI) signed a cooperation agreement with the Swedish government evaluating three possible raw materials for biogas production: sewage sludge, slaughterhouse waste and organic waste.
In May last year, Dutch clean energy firm Bright Renewables announced it will supply CO2 liquefaction technology to Tekniska verken’s biogas plant Svensk Biogas in Linköping to purify and liquefy CO2 from the biogas production process.
The partnership between the two European energy companies, involving Sweden’s first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) facility using biogas, will produce 20,000 tonnes of food-grade carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
In June, Swedish biogas firm Biokraft said it will build a biogas plant at Perstorp Industrial Park in Perstorp, that will produce an expected 130 GWh (gigawatt hours) of biomethane and 17,000 tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) per year from 2027.
