Nature Energy's revenues have increased from DKK 693 million in 2019 to DKK 898 million in 2020, while the company's production of climate-friendly biogas has increased by 30 % since the financial year in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, the unit costs to produce 1 m3 biogas alone have fallen by approximately 6 %. Nature Energy expect costs to decrease further in 2021.
In 2020, Nature Energy completed a range of comprehensive expansions of three different biogas plants, and a new large-scale plant in Glansager in Sønderborg Municipality has been inaugurated. In total, Nature Energy has invested close to DKK 400 million during 2020.
“2020 has in many ways been a good year for Nature Energy. We continue the major investments in our biogas production while we expand the plants that have the potential to take in more biomasses and hereby produce even more biogas. We strive to maintain the high pace and build more biogas plants in the coming years,” says CEO of Nature Energy, Ole Hvelplund.
Nature Energy's board of directors is also positive towards the increased activity.
“Climate-friendly biogas and fertilizer for the plants are important elements in the green transition, and there is still a great need to increase production in Denmark. Therefore, it is positive that we continue to invest significantly in biogas and increase our activities to deliver 30 % more biogas in 2020 compared to 2019,” says Nature Energy's chairman of the board Peter Gæmelke.
Despite the increased biogas production, Nature Energy comes out of the financial year with a deficit of DKK 64 million after tax. This is mainly due to gas prices, which have continued to fall drastically in 2020. Despite the falling gas prices, business operations are doing well, and in 2021 Nature Energy expects a positive result after tax.
"We have increased our activities significantly in 2020. This is especially thanks to our owners, who keep investing in the company with the purpose of continued biogas production in Denmark," says CEO Ole Hvelplund.
The investments are clearly visible in the production figures. In 2020, a total of 3.5 million tons of biomass were processed at Nature Energy's biogas plants, which resulted in a production of 127 million m3 of biogas.
In the coming period, the amount of biomass is expected to increase to almost 5 million tons, which can be converted into more than 200 million m3 of biogas. This corresponds to a reduction of 534,000 tons of CO2. As an example, this is enough to keep 8,000 lorries driving in a CO2-neutral way for 50.000 kilometers.
“In order to achieve the climate targets in the green transition and accomplish the target of 70 % CO2 reduction in 2030, there is a need for green instruments with immediate impact. Therefore, it is positive that we, as Denmark's largest biogas producer, continue to increase the share of biogas on the Danish gas grid, while minimizing production costs,” says CEO Ole Hvelplund and continues:
“We look forward to bid for the coming public tender for biogas, which was passed with the energy agreement in the summer of 2020. However, we can still produce significantly more climate-friendly biogas in Denmark, and therefore we hope that the political will to support biogas production continues in the coming years. It will be extremely beneficial for Denmark's green transition,” Ole Hvelplund says.