Challenges

About 70% of commercial Vietnamese livestock farms have invested in backup diesel generators but are unwilling to invest in biogas generators. This is due to: a lack of quality management in the market; a a poor reputation caused by several low-quality, poor performing biogas projects over the past decade; and most farm owners having very little access to information about biogas generation and having limited access to financial services.. Additionally, the Vietnamese government has not issued any policies that support biogas investments, so farm owners are hesitant to make any biogas investment decisions.   

For the 41.8% of Vietnamese pig farmers who do have biogas systems, almost all biogas plants produced huge amounts of biogas well above the demand for cooking. As a result, biogas was either flared or released into the atmosphere without burning, increasing GHG emissions.

Solutions

Egreen, a multi-product company in the biogas sector, promotes the efficient use of biogas through biogas digesters and biogas purifying products applied to biogas generators. The company provides the product through direct sales and an energy service company (ESCO) model. Biogas purifiers promoted by the company improve efficiency and reduce the operating costs for households and pig farms using biogas.  

Through the ESCO model, Egreen invests in whole biogas genset and then offer electricity at competitive prices to the farm owners.  Through the direct sales, farms invest in the biogas genset while Egreem plays the role of technology service provider by installing the biogas generator, and providing training to the farm on operations and maintenance. 

Additionally, Egreen offers strong climate impacts with the innovation by helping filter impurities and bringing down the carbon footprint of existing commercial pig farms.