Construction started on liquefied biogas facility at the Port of Gothenburg

Construction has begun on a liquefied biogas facility at the Port of Gothenburg. Owned and developed by Nordion Energi, the plant is expected to play a central role in making Swedish biogas available to more sectors, not least shipping.

The purpose of the facility is to enable biogas producers connected to the gas grid to reach new markets. By liquefying the gas, it can be transported and used in sectors such as shipping, heavy transport and industry, including areas beyond the reach of the existing gas grid.

“Our goal is to help drive the transition of the gas grid to 100 percent renewable gas, and the liquefied biogas facility at the Port of Gothenburg will play a key role in that shift. It will also support the transition of shipping, heavy transport and industries located further away from the gas grid,” says Carolina Wistén, Head of Customer and Market Gas Grid at Nordion Energi.

Biogas is a renewable fuel with a low climate impact and can replace fossil alternatives across several sectors. Interest in liquefied biogas is growing rapidly, particularly in shipping, where demand for sustainable fuels continues to increase.

Value chain in place

“For shipping’s transition to gain real momentum, the entire value chain needs to be in place and working together, something the maritime cluster at the Port of Gothenburg is well known for. This facility strengthens the port’s position in renewable bunker fuels and will make it possible to offer liquefied biogas to shipping on a larger scale,” says Therese Jällbrink, Head of Renewable Energy at the Port of Gothenburg.

Producers and users are already in place at the port, ready to make use of the liquefaction facility once it is operational. Several shipping companies calling at the port regularly are already using biogas to power their vessels. They will be able to scale up that use once the facility is completed.

On the production side, St1 Biokraft is among the companies that have already signed an agreement to secure part of the facility’s capacity.

“Once the liquefaction facility is completed, we will have a strong solution in place at the Port of Gothenburg. This is a strategic step towards our goal of scaling up and offering competitive liquefied biogas to the shipping sector, while also taking a leading position in this segment,” says Ted Gustavsson, Head of Value Chain at St1 Biokraft.

The new facility is expected to be completed in early 2027 and is scheduled to become operational before the end of the year. Once fully operational, it will have a capacity of around 50 tonnes of liquefied biogas per day.