Biogas: The Boost of Innovation on New Renewable Energies

by Cácia Pimentel* (Mackenzie University/Advanced Biofuels USA) The V Biogas Forum promoted by the Brazilian Association of the Producers of Biogas and Biomethane - ABIOGAS was held in Sao Paulo on October 31 and November 1, 2018. According to Camila D’Aquino, Executive Manager of ABIOGAS, the Forum brought together around 50 leading companies, policymakers, specialists and over 200 attendees in order to discuss the opportunities and the challenges in the biogas sector.

Biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the bacterial decomposition of organic wastes and used as a fuel.

New renewable sources (wind farms and offshore, solar, tidal or oceanic, hydrogen, biogas, among others) are characterized by clean energy and low environmental impact in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

For instance, Dr. Miguel Ivan Lacerda explained that biogas is included in RenovaBio, Brazil’s national biofuels policy that establishes initiatives of sustainability, decarbonization and greenhouse effect, in accordance with the commitments signed in the Paris Agreement.

Biogas is a non-intermittent source that generates renewable and clean energy. The advantages of biogas are not restricted to energy generation, but it also helps in reducing methane and carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Therefore, it has a high potential to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reducations and defossilization. Furthermore, biogas can solve the social problem of landfills and generate wealth for slum communities.

Leading countries, such as the United States, Germany, United Kingdom and Canada have been experiencing a great scale and growth of biogas production due to the improvement of the regulatory and supporting subsidy schemes.

Mr. Marco Mazzaferro, Business Manager of Greenlane Biogas, provided relevant information on incentive policies for biomethane production in Canada.

Bernard Sheff, Chairman of American Biogas Council, noted that the US biogas market has approximately 2,200 operational biogas systems, including 253 on dairy and swine farms. The potential in the United States is for more than 13,500 new biogas systems, according to the Obama White House Roadmap. The numbers show huge potential growth of the market.

Sheff understands that dairy gas will grow once producers get: more price certainty, especially with rules beyond 2020; standardized reasonable pipeline gas quality specifications and streamlined cost and process to interconnect; and encouragement for renewable gas demand for heavy duty trucking.

Biogas Forum attendees also got the opportunity to listen to Dr. Deborah Sacks, representing the UK Department of International Trade. She informed that the UK offers three different subsidy regimes to the biofuel market: Heat generation supported through the Renewable Heat Incentive; Electricity generation supported through Contracts of Difference; and Transport fuels supported through the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation. Reducing landfill is incentivized through the UK Landfill Tax.

Brazil presents a great possibility of expansion and use of biogas, as a complement to fossil fuels. In this sense, the technological advances of biomethane (CH4) deserve special mention.

This biofuel has the potential to solve the precarious conditions of basic sanitation in the country and to drive the innovations of the hydrogen economy. Specific investments in the biogas/biomethane production chain would allow a high economic impact. Appropriate public policies could transform the reality of landfills into wealth and cooperate with the achievement of the UNSDG.

The current pace of development requires focused attention on the new Brazilian Government in order to develop new incentive policies to the production of biomethane. It would require a new Brazilian Regulatory Statute that would include new laws and policies to boost the growth of the new renewable energy industry.

*The author is a PhD Candidate in Economic Law, Mackenzie University, SP, Brazil (merit scholarship); Master’s degree in international and Economic Law, Cornell University, NY, United States; MBA in Economic Law, FGV-DF, Brazil; Law Professor; public policies and government expenditure specialist; contact: caciapimentel2012@gmail.com; LinkedIn https://br.linkedin.com/in/cacia-pimentel-532887113; http://lattes.cnpq.br/5669016828483675