Volker Klinkert becomes third Managing Director of VNG subsidiary BALANCE
From January 1, 2023, the wholly owned VNG subsidiary BALANCE Erneuerbare Energien GmbH (BALANCE), will have a third Managing Director. Volker Klinkert will join Thomas Fritsch (Managing Director for Business Development) and Friedrich Nollau (Commercial Managing Director) as the Managing Director responsible for the operation of BALANCE’s 39 biogas facilities.
The 52-year old electrical engineer has played an active role in the company’s growth from the moment he joined BALANCE in 2007. As part of his most recent role as regional manager, he was responsible for the biogas facilities in the South region.
“BALANCE has seen a lot of growth in recent years and is a player in an extremely dynamic market. This means that the operational side of the business is extremely complex. That's why we decided that our biogas subsidiary should be managed by a trio going forwards,” explained VNG Board Member Hans-Joachim Polk.
The green gases biogas and biomethane represent an important growth area in the Group’s VNG 2030+ strategy. Since 2006, BALANCE has offered a varied portfolio in the production of biogas, biomethane, renewable heat and renewable electricity. In line with its ambitious growth strategy, BALANCE operates 39 biogas facilities in northern and eastern Germany with a total installed capacity of around 165 MWRTO. This enables BALANCE to supply around 50,000 households with renewable electricity and more than 53,000 households with green gas every year.
“Volker Klinkert provides the perfect combination of expertise and experience in the biogas segment to round out BALANCE’s management team and expand our offering of needs-based and climate-friendly biogas. We have ambitious plans for BALANCE. Over the next few years, we will acquire additional facilities over the next few years, build new facilities and expand our existing facilities,“ continued Polk.
BALANCE was founded in 2006 and is currently one of the leading biogas plant operators in Germany with 39 plants in northern and eastern Germany. The company, which currently has around 160 employees, supplies people throughout Germany with regionally produced, safe and CO2-neutral energy in the form of biogas, heat and electricity. In addition, BALANCE develops innovative products along its value chain and is committed to giving biogas more prominence in a sustainable energy economy.
With an ambitious growth strategy, BALANCE has quintupled its plant portfolio since 2018 and today generates renewable energy with a firing thermal capacity of over 166 MWFWL. This means that BALANCE mathematically supplies around 51,000 households with renewable electricity and up to 53,000 households with green gas every year. As a wholly owned subsidiary of VNG AG, BALANCE combines the activities of the parent company in the field of renewable energy production. More at www.balance-vng.de.
VNG is a group of over 20 companies active in the European energy industry, employing about 1,700 people. As a gas importer and wholesaler as well as an operator of critical gas infrastructure, the Group, which is headquartered in Leipzig, is central to the secure supply of gas in Germany. With the “VNG 2030+” strategy, VNG is also pursuing an ambitious path for a market ramp-up of renewable and decarbonised gases such as biogas and hydrogen, paving the way for a sustainable, secure supply and, in the long term, climate-neutral energy system of the future.
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Volker Klinkert as the new managing director for plant operations at BALANCE Enerneuerbare Energien GmbH. (Photo: Torsten Pross, Jeibmann Photografik)
