Strategic collaboration in the biogas sector in North America with Harvest Power, Inc.

Harvest Power receives the exclusive rights for the use of the patented GICON Biogas Process in North America.

GICON Bioenergie GmbH and Harvest Power, Inc., one of the most important firms in North America in organic waste recovery, collectively announce a new strategic partnership.  The objective is the collaborative erection of biogas plants for fermentation of solid materials.

Under the terms of the partnership, Harvest receives exclusive North American rights to GICON’s high solids anaerobic digestion technology, and GICON will be responsible for engineering of the plants. The companies are working together on the design, construction and start-up of the first plant, which can process approx. 27,000 metric tons per year of food and yard waste.

“In searching for the right partner, we conducted extensive due diligence on the most promising companies and saw an array of impressive anaerobic technologies,” said Paul Sellew, founder and CEO of Harvest Power. “Without a doubt, GICON’s proposal stood head-and-shoulders above the rest. We chose GICON because of its unique two-stage batch digestion design that enables shorter retention times and higher biomethane yields, high quality operating plants, commitment to innovation through continuous research and development, and talented team with deep expertise in biogas plant design, construction and operation.”

“Our partnership with Harvest Power provides a strong launch point for GICON in the United States and Canada,” said Prof. Jochen Großmann, GICON’s founder and CEO. “Harvest is the perfect partner for this objective because of its experience in organic waste management, commitment to technology innovation and ability to attract financing for new facilities.”

GICON’s eight facilities in Europe produce approx. 11 MW of power and process approx. 171,000 tons per year of diverse organic material.  In addition, GICON’s team of experienced engineers has been involved in the design of over seventy facilities in twelve countries processing over one million tons of feedstock per year.

Business areas of the Massachusetts, USA-based firm are project development, construction, ownership, and operation of plants for the utilization of discarded organic materials through the generation of renewable energy and compost.  Harvest deploys best-in-class technologies in order to implement its company philosophy of obtaining maximum added value with minimal environmental impacts.  In April, 2010, Harvest was recognized as one the Top 50 private firms in the area of renewable energy generation on the American market (“AlwaysOn’s GoingGreen East Top 50 Private Companies list”).

As part of this partnership, the first GICON Biogas Process plant is being built near Vancouver, British Columbia.  Source-separated organic waste and yard waste will be used as feedstocks for the production of biogas.  This will be the first plant to utilize high solids fermentation in North America.  The planning of the plant is already underway.  Additional plants in the USA and Canada will follow in the near future.