OUR STORY
From Amsterdam to Meerbusch – and why we keep going.
DBG started with a simple idea: what the paper industry gives off as a residue has value. From that idea we developed large greenfield projects – and today an operating company in Germany.
Timeline
- 2020DBG Holding founded in Amsterdam
- 2021Groningen Seaports – Delfzijl becomes the first site
- 2022DBG Deutschland GmbH in Meerbusch; mandate for a pipeline of more than €1 billion
- 2023Building, environmental and operating permits for Delfzijl
- 2024The Dutch companies go into insolvency – DBG Deutschland GmbH keeps operating
- 2025100 % takeover of DBG Deutschland GmbH
- 2026Titz-Ameln acquired
Where we come from
2020
Krit de Beer, Karlijn de Beer and Berkay Güres found DBG Holding in Amsterdam, with the aim of producing renewable gas from paper sludge at scale.
2021
An international energy developer joins as a partner; Groningen Seaports – Delfzijl becomes the first site.
2022
An office in the province of Groningen; in Meerbusch, DBG Deutschland GmbH is set up to serve paper mills in Germany directly.
2023
The Province of Groningen and the Hunze en Aa’s water authority grant the building, environmental and operating permits for Delfzijl.
What we developed
Large greenfield projects – a single project of 250 GWh per year, with sites and technology developed in-house.
Groningen Seaports – Delfzijl
Land, power and gas grid connections, and the building, environmental and operating permits.
Port of Amsterdam
Site leased, grid connection secured, nitrogen-deposition permit obtained – one of the hardest permits to get in the Netherlands.
North Sea Port – Vlissingen
A third project was at its start.
Financing and offtake
This is how the market saw us in 2022: mid-market infrastructure funds, oil and gas majors, pension funds, EPC contractors and large commodity trading houses offered financing and offtake. At their initiative we received the mandate to develop a project pipeline of more than €1 billion. Permitting, EPC, offtake and equity financing – we know them first-hand.
In parallel
DBG Deutschland GmbH, based in Meerbusch, organised the recovery of residues from German paper mills.
When life gives you lemons …
Final investment decisions (FID) kept slipping. We decided to stop development spending – including for Vlissingen. At the end of 2024 DBG’s Dutch companies went into insolvency. In 2025 the Delfzijl project was taken over by the energy terminal operator VTTI.
… make lemonade
DBG Deutschland GmbH remained solvent and kept operating. In 2025 main founder Berkay Güres took over 100 % of the company; since then it has been independent and owner-managed. What we learned in the greenfield projects we apply today: recovery of residues, existing biogas plants, solutions for paper mills.
Where we are today
2025
Main founder Berkay Güres takes over 100 % of DBG Deutschland GmbH; since then it has been independent and owner-managed.
May 2026
Titz-Ameln (North Rhine-Westphalia) acquired – a brownfield asset that we are repowering.
Today
Residues, biogas and agricultural products – one team in Meerbusch and Titz-Ameln. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of residues a year, around 80 routes (2025); over one million tonnes routed to recovery since 2022.
We are looking for more brownfield plants.
Do you own or operate a biogas plant that needs a fresh start? We acquire existing plants and repower them.
Our guiding principle still applies: what is a residue for one is a value for another.