The Consulate General of Sweden in Los Angeles and New York, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Trade Council and Swentec (Swedish Environmental Technology Council) have identified business opportunities for Swedish companies within the biogas, ethanol and waste-to-energy sectors. Several of these areas are showing signs of strong development and offer promising offshoots for Swedish companies.
Ethanol is an area where a lot of things are going on right now. Market conditions and policy incentives have contributed to an unprecedented expansion of the U.S. ethanol industry during the last couple of years. There are approximately 130 ethanol plants in the U.S. currently, located mostly in the Midwest. 77 new plants are also under construction.
Within biogas, there are currently more than 100 on-farm anaerobic digesters in operation in the U.S., with more than 80 in the planning stage. New federal and state programs with beneficial loans and tax benefits for construction of on-farm biogas plants are the main reasons for last year’s strong market growth. There are also more than 420 operating landfill gas recovering plants in the U.S., and 82 new plants are under construction.
The waste-to-energy industry in the U.S. has had 15 tough years; there have not been any new facilities built and many companies have had profitability problems. However there are indications of an increased interest for waste-to-energy. Increased electricity prices make waste-to-energy production more profitable. Higher fuel prices also increase costs for transportation of waste to landfills.
Download the studies:EthanolBiogasWaste-to-energy
For more information, please contact Anna Carin Thomér, Consulate General of Sweden in Los Angeles, +1-310-409-3589, email: annacarin.thomer@foreign.ministry.se