Assoro Biomethane, 30 million to keep growing

A 30 million investment to further develop the business of producing methane from agricultural waste. This is the plan of Assoro Biometano, the company that is part of the FemoGas group in Cittadella (Padua) and continues to be owned by a group of Sicilian entrepreneurs, which aims to almost triple its biogas production in two years. This is the first plant in Italy for the production of agricultural biomethane in a semi-desert area, located in the province of Enna, in the Dittaino Valley: a virtuous example of circular economy, the project involves more than 100 local farms, which supply agricultural by-products for the production of clean energy, generating positive impacts both economically and environmentally.

And it is in the context of this development plan that the financing operation worth EUR 25 million by Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia, with the support of Sace's Guarantee Growth and the Guarantee Fund for SMEs, is located. "This operation confirms our commitment to supporting concrete and sustainable entrepreneurial projects, capable of generating value for the territory and the environment," said Saverio Continella, CEO of Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia. "The collaboration with Sace and the Guarantee Fund for SMEs has made it possible to build a solid and development-oriented financial solution. We are proud to accompany a reality like Assoro Biometano, which represents a model of innovation and local roots'.

This additional financing is part of a comprehensive growth strategy of the Enna-based company: last year Assoro Biometano obtained a EUR 6.7 million credit line from Banco Bpm to cover part of the plant's expansion costs with the aim of increasing its production capacity. The plant, in turn, had already been supported in 2022 with project financing for a total of €12.5 million. This additional financing from Baps represents a strategic step in the company's growth path: "Thanks to Baps," says Assoro Biometano director Edoardo Bonaccorsi, "we are taking our successful project - which in the last five years has become an agro-industrial model, revolutionising agriculture in the semi-desert Sicilian hinterland and elevated by the FAO to the best sustainable agricultural chain in the world - to become one of the largest plants in Europe. We prove that Sicily today is the best place to invest. I thank the women and men of Baps for believing in this vision'.

The Assoro Biomethane plant, built at the time by Ies Agri&Farm (a Snam group company), today has a production capacity of about 4.4 million Sm³ of advanced biomethane per year: production comes from the treatment of 74,500 tonnes per year of livestock effluents and agro-food by-products, including citrus waste, olive pomace, tomato peel and silage from second-harvest crops. The plant has the potential to power almost 3,000 cars, saving an estimated 3,400 tonnes of oil equivalent and reducing about 8,580 tonnes of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere. "We are proud to support, together with Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia and the Guarantee Fund for SMEs," says Maria Luisa Miccolis, Head of Sales Pmi of Sace, "a project of excellence such as Assoro Biometano, which represents a concrete example of circular economy and sustainable innovation in the heart of Sicily. Through Garanzia Growth, we confirm Sace's role as an accelerator of the competitive growth of the Italian production system. Supporting investments capable of generating positive impacts on the territory, the environment, and local supply chains is a strategic priority for us, in line with our mission of supporting businesses," he said. The Enna-based company, which was founded in 2020 and today employs nine people, last year recorded a production value of 8.5 million, up from 7.5 million in 2023, and has good prospects for further growth in 2025. But the greatest value, on which the company's management also insists, is the environmental one: 'We have started a virtuous process that has also been recognised by the FAO as the best sustainable agricultural supply chain in the world,' says Bonaccorsi. We collect food waste and return not only energy but also digestate, which is reused to enrich the soil by replacing chemical fertiliser: the liquid part is sold to farmers who bear the costs of transport and distribution on the land, the solid part of the digestate is sold. In an area with a high risk of desertification, we think this is a very important job: farmers testify to us that thanks to the use of this product, soil productivity has increased and this is a great result.