Egg producer has commissioned German firm Weltec Biopower to build a pioneering 800kW biogas plant Colombia's largest egg producer has announced plans to power its farms using waste manure provided by its own chickens. Incubadora Santander, which produces around 3.5 million eggs a day from several poultry farms close to the western Colombian province of Cauca, today announced it has commissioned German firm Weltec Biopower to build a 800kW biogas plant which will produce fuel using dry chicken manure and process water from the farms. The firm said the anaerobic digestion (AD) plant will need no additional substrate, while the process will also produce a fertiliser suitable for use as liquid manure on the company's own fields. Construction is set to be completed in early 2017, with plant components such as the ready-for-operation combined heat and power (CHP) plant transported to the directly from over the coming months Germany. Incubadora Santander has ambitions to expand internationally through measures such as direct investments and strategic alliances, and chose Weltec Biopower 0 which has already constructed large biomethane parks and biogas plants across the waste, food, agriculture and sewage treatment industries - in part for its international experience. Colombia has a target to produce 6.5 per cent of its on-grid electricity from renewable sources by 2020, as well as a target to source 30 per cent of off-grid power from renewables. While there have been major concerns in recent years over the environmental and human rights impacts of the country stepping up its palm oil production to produce biofuels, the nascent AD sector hopes the country's sizeable agricultural industry can offer large quantities of side products and waste which could be harnessed to produce energy.