Flotech, the biogas equipment developer, says soaring demand for renewable energy from Asia, Europe and North America will likely see its revenues triple to $300 million as early as 2015.
The Auckland-based company develops proprietary processing technologies that converts decomposing organic matter such as fish waste and cow dung into a biogas. It plans to achieve the revenue boost by extending its dominant position in the biogas conversion market, predominantly through its Greenlane Biogas subsidiary.
Greenlane commands about 32 per cent of the biogas upgrading sector worldwide, the company said.
“We are one of the very few companies to have emerged with proven technologies for biomethane and our plan is to extend dominance of that sector,” said group managing director Steve Broadbent. “Our reputation is now such that no serious developer would contemplate a biomethane project without at least including Greenlane for consideration on the supplier list.”
Braodbent is the majority shareholder of the privately-held company with a 40 per cent stake. The company didn’t release any actual financial figures, but it said the growth is due to a four-year transformation process in which it changed from a “projects-driven, compressor dominated business” into a worldwide marketing vehicle for the Greenlane products.
In spite of the costs of the additional costs of the transformation, which exceeded budget and ran over time, Broadbent said the expansion “is coming to fruition”.
To date the company says it has sold more than 50 Greenlane Biogas upgrading systems, which produce biofuels for vehicle fleets, communities, power grids and pipeline gas.
Flotech joins a cadre of New Zealand companies which have pioneered green technologies overseas, most notably Lanzatech, the as-yet-to-break-even company which develops industrial pollution reduction technologies.
Both companies have won numerous awards in recent years, and have been the recipients of major government innovation funding.
