A new project was launched to facilitate the market uptake of biomethane in the European Union.
With the aim of reducing the EU’s dependence on natural gas imports, the REPowerEU plan sets a target of 35 bcm of annual biomethane production by 2030.
Nevertheless, there’s an evident discrepancy in biomethane deployment rates among EU countries: only a limited number of EU Member States have significant biomethane production, while the majority of them are still building the first plants.
As an example, Germany can count on 240 biomethane plants, while on the other side Estonia only has 6 operating plants, and countries like Greece and Poland still have no biomethane plants in their countries.
Aligning the deployment of biomethane in the EU is possible.
According to recent studies, the EU would be able to reach the REPowerEU target of 35 bcm per year: production levels can be easily scaled up to ensure ample future supply, since enough sustainable feedstocks are already available in the EU-27.
With these amounts, estimates show that up to 41 bcm of biomethane in 2030 could be available.
Together with immediate availability, biomethane is also easy to transport, since it consists of the same molecule as natural gas, and hence can be distributed through the existing gas infrastructure. Being a natural gas substitute, it can reduce EU’s reliance on imports, and it also contributes to circular bioeconomy by enabling the reuse of residues and waste.
Biomethane can play a fundamental role to decarbonize energy consumption in the heating industry as well as the transport sector, delivering very high GHG emissions reductions and being a convenient solution for clean mobility.
In order to foster the uptake of biomethane, actions shall focus on market, society and policy frameworks.
Building on these three pillars, the GreenMeUp project was launched in September 2022 to enhance the deployment of biomethane at scale across the EU.
Coordinated by Greek Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Savings, with 14 partners, the project will analyze framework conditions and market dynamics of biomethane in 10 European countries, divided between advanced countries, where the biomethane market is already structured, and target countries, where biomethane deployment rates are still low.
The results of this analysis will be then employed to design a set of market uptake policy measures that will refine and implement existing policies on biomethane in the target countries and at EU level. The project will also carry out activities to provide high societal acceptance levels for biomethane, through science-based evidence.
It is vital for Europe to enhance the uptake of biomethane: it will help reach the 2030 GHG reduction target and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Biomethane production will also contribute to the REPowerEU target of 35 bcm/per year by 2030, and thus increase European energy security by reducing its dependence on natural gas suppliers.
PARTNERS
The GreenMeUp project is coordinated by CRES. Other partners are: European Biogas Association (EBA), DBFZ German Biomass Research Centre, RE-CORD (Italy), Biogest, Italian Biogas Association (CIB), PIGEOR (Poland), INCE (Italy), Latvian Biogas Association (LBA), CZ Biom, Estonian Biogas Association, AEBIG
(Spain), DEDA (Greece) and ETA Florence Renewable Energies.
GreenMeUp has received the funding of the Horizon Europe program under Grant Agreement n. 101075676.
Contacts: info@greenmeup-project.eu
Website: https://www.greenmeup-project.eu/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenmeup-project/