While biomethane is in its infancy in Ireland, the sector has developed considerably elsewhere.
A recent report from the the Renewable Gas Trade Centre in Europe (REGATRACE) shed some light on the development of biomethane across Europe.
The report was commissioned to serve as a basis to set-up a harmonised biomethane market throughout the region. For most countries, data from 2018 was used.
The biggest producers of renewable gas are Germany (10,018 gigawatth-hour, GWh), the UK (3,300 GWh), the Netherlands (2,226 GWh), Denmark (1,425 GWh), Sweden (1,281 GWh) and France (1,207 GWh). The vast majority of renewable gas in Europe is biomethane, produced via the anaerobic digestion (AD) process.
Biomethane is made by cleaning up biogas, leaving just the methane, and then injecting it into the network.
Biomethane is a renewable energy source virtually identical to natural gas and distributed via the gas transmission and distribution network to many businesses and households across Europe.
It is made by cleaning up biogas, leaving just the methane, and then injecting it into the gas network.
Uses across Europe
For some countries, such as Sweden and Italy, end-use pathways are clearly defined and regulated where the main end-use application is transport. However, in the United Kingdom, this is heating and cooling.
Most of Sweden’s biomethane is used in the transport sector due to a favourable support system.
The use of biomethane for electricity production is favoured in Germany by the feed-in tariff
In Italy, the use of biomethane in the transport sector is facilitated by the fact that the infrastructure and methane vehicle fleets are already in place.
In 2014, the Italian government introduced the first obligation for the use of biofuels in the transport sector. In Germany, most biomethane is used for electricity production in combined heat and power plants (CHP) units.
The use of biomethane for electricity production is favoured in Germany by the feed-in tariff, which is only granted to the biomethane plants when electricity is generated from the biomethane.
Subsidies
Different countries have implemented different subsidy schemes for biomethane.
The most common support scheme for biomethane in Europe is a feed-in tariff, followed by a feed-in premium and fiscal incentives. Quota systems and investment support are less popular.
Several countries have more than one type of subsidy scheme in place, which either complements another scheme or differentiates in the end-use application of the biomethane.
Below is a rundown of the current state of play of the top five biomethane-producing countries in the EU.
Germany
Germany has a long tradition of producing and utilising biomethane. Biomethane production began in 2006, when the first biogas upgrading plant was brought into operation.
Biomethane production per country in 2018 (GWh per year).
Since then, the number of biomethane plants and the total annual production capacity have been growing constantly and, in 2018, reached 213 units and approximately 10 terawatt-hours (TWh).
The incentive scheme for biomethane utilisation is different depending on the specific market.
United Kingdom
Since 2011, the UK government has provided a feed-in tariff for biomethane injected into the gas grid. This has led to the construction of 93 biomethane installations.
New applications for this feed-in tariff will end in March 2021 and approximately 30 new installations may be built by this time.
Netherlands
The Dutch biomethane market is one of the pioneering markets in Europe. Since 2009, the Netherlands has had its own mandatory national renewable gas registry.
In 2018, there were a total of 46 biomethane plants in the Netherlands, nearly half of which (47%) were running on agricultural substrates.
Considering the country’s extensive livestock farming, it is hardly surprising that AD technology plays an important role for farmers in treating animal manure. Energy crops are not used for biomethane production in the Netherlands.
Denmark
Denmark started to promote biogas and electricity from biogas production in the mid-1970s, shortly after the first oil crisis.
The first farm-scale biogas plant was established in 1975, while the first centralised biogas plant was built in 1984.No recent figure for the number of plants in operation was given in the report.
Figure 2: Consumption of biomethane per sector and per country (for countries where data is available).
Up until now, the biogas sector in Denmark has been supported with subsidies for upgraded biogas (biomethane), combined heat and power, transport and processing. The current biogas subsidy scheme will be closed for new plants in 2020.
Sweden
The Swedish biomethane market is largely off-grid, with several small local and regional grids or stand-alone biogas gas plants and filling stations. Most of the biogas (63%) produced in the country is upgraded, of which 87% is used for road transport due to the favourable support system.
A significant amount of biomethane in Sweden is transported as compressed gas and, to a small but increasing extent, as liquefied gas (LBG).
Around 1.28 TWh of biomethane was produced in Sweden 2018. About 0.5 TWh of this is injected to the southwestern gas grid (connected to the European gas grid) and in the Stockholm gas grid – the rest is used locally or trucked to filling stations.
France
The French biomethane sector is very dynamic. France is one of the few countries that set specific biomethane targets – namely, to produce 1.7 TWh biomethane by 2018 and 8 TWh biomethane by 2023.
Over 1,000 registered projects are currently in the pipeline
Since biomethane was granted access to the gas grid in 2011 and the ambitious biomethane targets were set, growth has been considerable, with the number of new biomethane plants going from seven to 107 between 2015 and September 2019.
Over 1,000 registered projects are currently in the pipeline, meaning France is expected to become a leader in the European biomethane sector.
Ireland
Currently, one biomethane plant in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) is capable of injecting biomethane into the national gas grid.
As reported by the Irish Farmers Journal last month, there are up to 100 connection applications from biomethane producers to inject into the ROI gas grid.
There is a Government support scheme for biogas/biomethane from AD to be used directly to heat buildings or factories
There is currently no subsidy or support scheme in ROI for biomethane production that is to be injected into the grid. There is a Government support scheme for biogas/biomethane from AD to be used directly to heat buildings or factories (SSRH), but not grid-injected.
Waste-based plants are expected to progress even without a subsidy or Government support, but plants using substrates from agriculture will require a support before they progress. Existing waste-based AD plants are viable where the producer charges a gate fee and generates electricity from biogas, which qualifies for a tariff subsidy under a previous REFIT scheme.
While biomethane is in its infancy in Ireland, the sector has developed considerably elsewhere.
A recent report from the the Renewable Gas Trade Centre in Europe (REGATRACE) shed some light on the development of biomethane across Europe.
The report was commissioned to serve as a basis to set-up a harmonised biomethane market throughout the region. For most countries, data from 2018 was used.
The biggest producers of renewable gas are Germany (10,018 gigawatth-hour, GWh), the UK (3,300 GWh), the Netherlands (2,226 GWh), Denmark (1,425 GWh), Sweden (1,281 GWh) and France (1,207 GWh). The vast majority of renewable gas in Europe is biomethane, produced via the anaerobic digestion (AD) process.
Biomethane is made by cleaning up biogas, leaving just the methane, and then injecting it into the network.
Biomethane is a renewable energy source virtually identical to natural gas and distributed via the gas transmission and distribution network to many businesses and households across Europe.
It is made by cleaning up biogas, leaving just the methane, and then injecting it into the gas network.
Uses across Europe
For some countries, such as Sweden and Italy, end-use pathways are clearly defined and regulated where the main end-use application is transport. However, in the United Kingdom, this is heating and cooling.
Most of Sweden’s biomethane is used in the transport sector due to a favourable support system.
The use of biomethane for electricity production is favoured in Germany by the feed-in tariff
In Italy, the use of biomethane in the transport sector is facilitated by the fact that the infrastructure and methane vehicle fleets are already in place.
In 2014, the Italian government introduced the first obligation for the use of biofuels in the transport sector. In Germany, most biomethane is used for electricity production in combined heat and power plants (CHP) units.
The use of biomethane for electricity production is favoured in Germany by the feed-in tariff, which is only granted to the biomethane plants when electricity is generated from the biomethane.
Subsidies
Different countries have implemented different subsidy schemes for biomethane.
The most common support scheme for biomethane in Europe is a feed-in tariff, followed by a feed-in premium and fiscal incentives. Quota systems and investment support are less popular.
Several countries have more than one type of subsidy scheme in place, which either complements another scheme or differentiates in the end-use application of the biomethane.
Below is a rundown of the current state of play of the top five biomethane-producing countries in the EU.
Germany
Germany has a long tradition of producing and utilising biomethane. Biomethane production began in 2006, when the first biogas upgrading plant was brought into operation.
Biomethane production per country in 2018 (GWh per year).
Since then, the number of biomethane plants and the total annual production capacity have been growing constantly and, in 2018, reached 213 units and approximately 10 terawatt-hours (TWh).
The incentive scheme for biomethane utilisation is different depending on the specific market.
United Kingdom
Since 2011, the UK government has provided a feed-in tariff for biomethane injected into the gas grid. This has led to the construction of 93 biomethane installations.
New applications for this feed-in tariff will end in March 2021 and approximately 30 new installations may be built by this time.
Netherlands
The Dutch biomethane market is one of the pioneering markets in Europe. Since 2009, the Netherlands has had its own mandatory national renewable gas registry.
In 2018, there were a total of 46 biomethane plants in the Netherlands, nearly half of which (47%) were running on agricultural substrates.
Considering the country’s extensive livestock farming, it is hardly surprising that AD technology plays an important role for farmers in treating animal manure. Energy crops are not used for biomethane production in the Netherlands.
Denmark
Denmark started to promote biogas and electricity from biogas production in the mid-1970s, shortly after the first oil crisis.
The first farm-scale biogas plant was established in 1975, while the first centralised biogas plant was built in 1984.No recent figure for the number of plants in operation was given in the report.
Figure 2: Consumption of biomethane per sector and per country (for countries where data is available).
Up until now, the biogas sector in Denmark has been supported with subsidies for upgraded biogas (biomethane), combined heat and power, transport and processing. The current biogas subsidy scheme will be closed for new plants in 2020.
Sweden
The Swedish biomethane market is largely off-grid, with several small local and regional grids or stand-alone biogas gas plants and filling stations. Most of the biogas (63%) produced in the country is upgraded, of which 87% is used for road transport due to the favourable support system.
A significant amount of biomethane in Sweden is transported as compressed gas and, to a small but increasing extent, as liquefied gas (LBG).
Around 1.28 TWh of biomethane was produced in Sweden 2018. About 0.5 TWh of this is injected to the southwestern gas grid (connected to the European gas grid) and in the Stockholm gas grid – the rest is used locally or trucked to filling stations.
France
The French biomethane sector is very dynamic. France is one of the few countries that set specific biomethane targets – namely, to produce 1.7 TWh biomethane by 2018 and 8 TWh biomethane by 2023.
Over 1,000 registered projects are currently in the pipeline
Since biomethane was granted access to the gas grid in 2011 and the ambitious biomethane targets were set, growth has been considerable, with the number of new biomethane plants going from seven to 107 between 2015 and September 2019.
Over 1,000 registered projects are currently in the pipeline, meaning France is expected to become a leader in the European biomethane sector.
Ireland
Currently, one biomethane plant in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) is capable of injecting biomethane into the national gas grid.
As reported by the Irish Farmers Journal last month, there are up to 100 connection applications from biomethane producers to inject into the ROI gas grid.
There is a Government support scheme for biogas/biomethane from AD to be used directly to heat buildings or factories
There is currently no subsidy or support scheme in ROI for biomethane production that is to be injected into the grid. There is a Government support scheme for biogas/biomethane from AD to be used directly to heat buildings or factories (SSRH), but not grid-injected.
Waste-based plants are expected to progress even without a subsidy or Government support, but plants using substrates from agriculture will require a support before they progress. Existing waste-based AD plants are viable where the producer charges a gate fee and generates electricity from biogas, which qualifies for a tariff subsidy under a previous REFIT scheme.
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