Opcon’s subsidiary, SEM, receives breakthrough order for ignition systems for biogas engines

SEM AB has received a first order for over 100 ignition systems for biogas engines from the company’s partner, Huegli Tech AG, Switzerland. SEM’s ignition systems are developed for biogas engines that are used to generate green electricity, which is a fast-growing market on the European continent.

”This is a breakthrough order for our ignition systems for biogas engines. Government policies in several large European countries favour the production of green electricity and we believe this is a market where we can grow,” says Svein Valheim, President of
SEM AB.

The ignition systems have been tested during the autumn of 2006 in co-operation with Huegli Tech AG and engine producers, and the results have been positive. The technology behind the biogas engines is more complicated than for other types of combustion engine and demands for ignition systems are very high. Huegli Tech sells and distributes SEM’s ignition systems and adapts them for end-users.

Germany is leading the development of electricity production via biogas engines, and the number of plants has increased tenfold between 1995 and 2005. Electricity produced by biogas today accounts for 1% of total electricity production in Germany, and the biogas industry expects this percentage to increase to 17% by 2020. In 2006 the French government raised producer prices for green electricity to the same level that they are in Germany.