Europe's top biogas producer warns EU output target is unattainable
SUMMARY
More supportive policy is needed, the head of Nature Energy said, including a floor price for biomethane supply.
By Joseph MurphyPOSTED IN:
Europe Environmental Innovation EU Denmark Commercial Innovation
Europe's largest biogas producer has warned that the EU's target for expanding biogas output as a means of reducing Russian natural gas supply is unattainable.
The European Commission rolled out its REPowerEU plan in March, aimed at ramping up the production of low-carbon gases and LNG imports in order to deliver a two-thirds reduction in Russian gas supply within a year. As part of the plan, the commission called for biogas production to be more than doubled from 3bn m3 by next year, and expanded to 35bn m3 by the end of the decade.
However, Ole Hvelplund, CEO of Danish biogas producer Nature Energy, told the Financial Times in an interview on July 11 that the target was unrealistic because it takes at least two years for new projects to secure permits and plants to be constructed.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Biogas is produced primarily by using waste from crops, animal manure and industry activity, through the process of anaerobic digestion, where bacteria break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. The CO2 is then removed, and the purified biomethane can be fed into the natural gas system.
Supportive measures are needed to incentivise new projects, Hvelplund said, including a floor price on biomethane supply.
“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," he said.
