The winners of the 2020 AD and Biogas Industry Awards were announced on 8 October in a virtual Awards Ceremony hosted by the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) and the World Biogas Association (WBA). The ceremony concluded three days of intense industry activity at the 2020 World Biogas Summit and Expo – which were also held virtually.
Every year, the Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in the global anaerobic digestion (AD) and biogas sector, and this year’s winners and highly commended across 12 categories illustrated the increasingly international nature of the competition – with the successful entries ranging from the UK, Germany, Italy and France to Norway, India and Thailand.
“Congratulations to all this year’s winners for their success”, said Charlotte Morton, ADBA Chief Executive. “They come from far and wide and perfectly represent the global growth of our industry and its dynamism in all aspects of the industry. Many highly commended entries also illustrate the increasingly high standards by which AD and biogas professionals operate . Commiserations to our other finalists but they can also stand proud of their achievements and we urge them to continue their great work in delivering the huge benefits our industry can bring to society.”
“I’d like to also take this opportunity to thank our panel of judges for their wise choices and our sponsors, SGN and SHV Energy for their support”, she concluded. “We’re looking forward to next year’s event – hopefully when we can all safety gather together to celebrate.”
Judge Dr Keith Simons, Principal Scientist at SHV Energy, added: “Congratulations to the finalists and winners. The excellence of all the entries reflects positively on a robust sector, which is not only improving on the basics such as safety and stable operation, but also developing viable solutions for traditionally unmet challenges through innovations. More so than in previous years, the strength of this robustness shone through in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This really does provide confidence in the future.”
And the AD and Biogas Industry Awards 2020 winners (and highly commended) are…
Health and Safety
Winner
Granville EcoPark (UK)
Best R&D Innovation
Winner
BioBANG (Italy) – How to get the max efficiency from straw (and waste biomass)
Highly commended
Huesker (Germany and global): Huesker Flexcover Combi Plus
Best Medium to Large Biogas Plant
Winner
Granville EcoPark (UK)
Highly commended:
Weltec Biopower: Lanes Farm Energy (UK)
Amur: North Yorkshire AD Plant (UK)
Most Improved Plant
Winner
J V Energen LLP: Rainbarrow Farm (UK)
Clever Use of Outputs
Winner
Azola S.A.S. (France)
Highly commended
N2 Applied (Norway)
AD Hero of the Year
Winner
Colin Small, SGN Commercial Services
Highly commended
Christine Parry, Amur
AD Rising Star Award
Winner
Laura Fonseca Aponte, Process Engineer, SUEZ
Best Anaerobic Digestion/Biogas Support
Winner
Alpheus Environmental (UK): supporting Glenmorangie
Highly commended:
Advantage Biogas Limited (UK)
Granville Energy Supply (UK)
SGN Commercial Services (UK)
International Knowledge Exchange & Collaboration
Winner
Gas Metrology Group: The Metrology for Biomethane project
Highly commended
Tampere AD Site (Finland): AD Sans Frontières
The Circular Economy Award
Winner
Krieg & Fischer Ingenieure (Germany): Rio Cuarto biogas plants-cooperation in integrated biogas and bioethanol production in Argentina
Highly commended
RE Power Group (Thailand): RPG Impact Project
Best Small-Scale Biogas Plant
Winner
Gegan Solutions (UK): compactAD
Highly commended
GPS Renewables (India): Bio-Urja modular system design and remote bio process management – Enabling decentralized biogas generation at scale in urban areas
Best Financing Award
Winner
Iona Environmental Infrastructure Limited Partnership (UK)