The European Biogas Association (EBA) and Renewable Gas Forum Ireland (RGFI) have called for the rapid scale up of biomethane across Europe and Ireland.
Biomethane is a renewable gas produced form anaerobic digestion plants and can substitute natural gas.
Europe relies heavily on Russian gas and there are growing supply concerns due to the conflict in Ukraine.
While natural gas continues to flow from Russia, it does so at significantly higher prices.
The EBA believes, if the growth trend continues, the biomethane industry could cover 30-40% of the EU gas demand by 2050
The rapid scale-up of biomethane across Europe could provide at least 35bn cubic metres (350 TWh) of renewable gas by 2030 if underpinned by legislation. This represents around 10% of total EU gas demand by 2050.
The EBA believes, if the growth trend continues, the biomethane industry could cover 30-40% of the EU gas demand by 2050.
Stabilise prices
The deployment of biomethane made in Europe can help stabilise the current natural gas price increase according to RGFI CEO, PJ McCarthy.
“There is an urgent need to reduce reliance on external gas suppliers, as the EU produces today less than 15% of its gas demand.
“The current conflict between Russia, Europe’s biggest gas supplier, and Ukraine could exacerbate the crisis due to a shortage of gas supplies,” McCarthy said this week.
Biomethane produced in Europe is now cheaper than natural gas, the EBA CEO, Harmen Dekker, said at the association’s first board meeting held in Ireland this week.
Climate goals
The EU has said its gas use must drop 25% by 2030, from 2015 levels, to meet climate goals and that a shift to locally produced renewable energy is its long-term defence against supply issues and the volatile price of imported fossil fuels.
EBA and RGFI say that while other renewable gases, such as green hydrogen, need time to scale up and are still two-to-four times more expensive, biomethane is available and scalable within the coming decades.
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