Poland's first grid-connected biomethane plant has started. Strzelin sugar factory

Polska Spółka Gazownictwa (PSG) announced on 9 September 2025 the start-up of a biomethane plant at the Südzucker Polska sugar factory in Strzelin. It is the first biomethane plant in Poland connected to the gas grid: the surplus biomethane that the sugar factory itself does not use is injected into the distribution grid through a 9-kilometre pipeline built jointly by Südzucker and PSG.

Installation parameters

The biogas is produced from sugar beet pulp, that is residues from sugar production. The new installation has four digesters of 10,000 m³ each and two digestate tanks; capacity is more than 9,000 m³ of biogas per hour. The previous biogas plant at the sugar factory, commissioned in 2012, had a capacity of 4 MW.

The biogas is upgraded in a station on the factory premises. Part of the biomethane is used by the sugar factory (the September campaign was initially to be 80% fuelled by biogas), and the surplus goes to the grid according to its absorption capacity. An earlier switch from coal to gas reduced the plant's CO₂ emissions by almost 50%, and dust emissions by 96%.

State of connections at PSG

A PSG representative stated that the company had issued 970 connection conditions for biomethane plants and concluded 12 agreements. PSG planned grid investments of PLN 3.3 billion in 2025 (more than a third for new connections) and PLN 3.5 billion the following year. Poland's potential was estimated at about 4 billion m³ of biomethane, which places the country fifth in the EU in terms of feedstocks.

Significance for the industry in Poland

Strzelin shows the "biomethane plant at an industrial site" model: it has a steady stream of residues, its own off-taker of heat and gas, and sells the surplus to the grid. It is a pattern for other sugar factories, distilleries or dairies. At the same time it is worth distinguishing it from the research installation in Brody (bioCNG without injection into the grid).

For grid operators it is proof that injection is technically feasible and can be carried out in normal mode.

What next

Further installations are waiting for the new provisions (auctions for biomethane plants larger than those covered by the FIP premium) and for connections. Market observers will check whether the Strzelin example is repeated at other sugar factories, distilleries and dairies, and how the grid operator copes with further injection applications. PSG declares hundreds of connection conditions issued, so the test for the grid is only beginning.