Europe’s Largest Biogas Producer Says EU Targets Are Unachievable
(Bioenergy Insight) Europe’s largest biogas producer has warned that it will take years to significantly boost production despite the EU pushing for a rapid increase in output to reduce reliance on Russian gas.
Biomethane is chemically identical to natural gas but produced through the controlled decomposition of animal and industrial waste. The EU wants output to more than double and contribute to about three percent of a targeted two-thirds reduction in imports of Russian gas by the end of 2022.
However, Ole Hvelplund, chief executive of Danish biomethane producer Nature Energy, said the target was unrealistic because it takes at least two years to secure permits and construct plants. He said: “The main factor of getting more production in place is to build more plants. You don’t do that over the summer. It takes some time.
“It will not be doubling on existing plants because you have a lot of physical restraints. In the short run to the next winter, it will be limited what we can do.”
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A European Commission official said the aims for reducing reliance on Russian gas by the end of 2022, including the 3.5 bcm increase in biomethane production, were not binding “but rather estimates of what we believe is possible to achieve.”
Biogas is produced primarily using waste from crops, animal manure and industrial activity through “anaerobic digestion”, a process by which bacteria break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. This is then purified into biomethane by extracting carbon dioxide and can then be treated identically to natural gas in the pipeline network.
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The biomethane industry is attempting to transform from a fragmented, cottage industry into industrial-scale operations. Nature, who generated €200mn of revenues in 2021, is leading the charge, but the sector is increasingly drawing the attention of energy majors.
Shell, which signed a long-term deal to buy Nature’s biomethane supply in 2020, started its first US biomethane facility in September 2021, while TotalEnergies has partnered with Veolia to produce biomethane from wastewater.
France’s Engie and container shipping giant CMA CGM have agreed to co-invest in a biomethane plant.
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He (Hvelplund) said: “We have to find places to build these plants, a quick way to do permitting, easy access to the gas grid, easy access to biowaste in a circle of 25km and a floor price on gas if we get back to gas prices in the past — then it will open up a lot of investment in Europe.” READ MORE
‘The new focus on methane is a game changer for our industry’ Charlotte Morton, chief executive, Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) (Bioenery Insight)
NEURC intends to cut norms for molar oxygen fraction in natural gas to develop Ukraine’s biomethane market (Bioenergy Insight)
