Opening of the first anaerobic digestion unit connected to the gas transmission network in the Grand Est region

La Monte Blanche has been in operation since November 2018. It produces 16.5 million kilowatt hours per year of renewable gas from intermediate biofuel-producing crops and local agro-industrial co-products (sugar refinery, starch factory, grain groups, and the Jean Goyard distillery). This energy production supplies the equivalent of the annual consumption of nearly 6,000 inhabitants or 70 gas-fuelled buses. Monte Blanche also produces digestate - a natural fertiliser collected at the end of the anaerobic digestion process that can be used in the fields as a substitute for chemical fertilisers.

Monte Blanche has a total investment of €6.2 million. It has received financial support from ADEME (up to 15% of the total investment) as part of the agency’s regional anaerobic digestion development strategy, as well as technical assistance from the Aubois-based design office, Artaim Conseil.

“We embarked on biomethane production in the belief that this met consumers’ desire to be able to access local and sustainable energy. We are proud that we can count on GRTgaz to inject this renewable gas into the transmission network,” stresses Xavier Roy, one of the two owners of the La Monte Blanche production unit.

With 14 sites currently in operation, Grand Est is France’s leading region for the injection of biomethane. Nationally, 88 facilities inject biomethane into the gas networks, with 760 projects in the study phase (Source: GRTgaz biomethane dashboard - April 2019).

This development reflects a strong regional interest in this continuous, easily storable renewable energy, which provides tangible solutions in terms of support for agriculture, the circular economy and waste processing, land planning and the creation of local jobs.