Manchester-based sustainable energy technology business Ener-G has won three contracts in Hungary worth £2.6m to generate electricity from landfill gas sites.

The operations involve Ener-G drilling holes into the landfill masses, inserting pipes and sucking methane into large spark-ignition engines that convert the gas into electricity.

The combined generating capacity of the three sites will be 2.65Mw, providing power for some 2,000 homes, claims Ener-G.

A further environmental benefit is that it prevents methane gas from the landfill escaping into the atmosphere uncontrollably. Methane is 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The operations will involve one Caterpillar 1,150Kw generator at the largest site and a combination of Perkins 400Kw and 500Kw generators at the two other smaller ones.

Biogas Technology (a sister company of Ener-G and also based in the UK) will supply equipment in the form of suction pumps and flares as part of the project.

Two agreements will run for 15 years at two landfill sites owned by an Austrian waste management company. The other contract covers a 10-year period at a site operated by a Hungarian local authority south west of Budapest.

The contracts will be delivered by Ener-G Natural Power in partnership with Hungary-based Ener-G Energia Technológia Zrt, formerly Kipszer, which Ener-G acquired in 2006.

The contracts were awarded after competitive tendering with other European companies in August and September 2007.

“From what we have seen during the last 15 months of visiting potential sites in Hungary, the operators of the landfills do not manage the infilling of waste in such a way as easily facilitates gas collection,” said Hugh Richmond, managing director of Ener-G Natural Power.

“We are looking forward to working with the Hungarian landfill operators to introduce methods which are conducive to gas collection and create mutual benefits not only for power generation but for the environment in Hungary,” he added.

Ener-G is currently reviewing a further 10 sites in Hungary.

“These contracts would also help to develop Budapest as a major operational hub in eastern European, where landfill opportunities are currently being explored in Romania and Bulgaria,” said Richmond.