European Workshop on biomethane - markets, value chains and applications

Biomethane has great potential to help reaching the 40% reduction target in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to consolidate energy security in Europe. This conclusion was drawn at the final workshop on 'biomethane markets, value chains and applications' jointly organized by three EU projects – BIOMASTER, GreenGasGrids and Urban Biogas, co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. Their aim was to promote biogas upgrading for injection into the gas grid and use in vehicles.
The workshop heard that upgrading technology is already in place and fully reliable. The 230 biomethane upgrading plants in Europe are a clear starting point for a widespread and strong development of decentralised fuel production. Within the EU projects, several European cities and regions have developed their concepts for biogas plants treating organic municipal waste and trained a number of municipalities, waste companies and consumers to move forward this implementation. Currently, the greatest achievements of biomethane for road transport are found in Sweden. Development has already started in UK, France and  Italy also   
The Biomethane Roadmap developed in the GreenGasGrids project has estimated a biomethane production in Europe by 2030 of 18-20 billion m3, corresponding to about 3% of the European natural gas consumption or 10% of total gaseous vehicle fuel consumption. The recent agreement on cooperation of six European Biomethane Registries and the finalisation of CEN standard for biomethane injection and use in vehicles will substantially improve international biomethane trade.  

Presentations

1. Biogas and Biomethane in the Intelligent Energy Europe programme - Silvia Vivarelli and Emilio Font de Mora, European Commission; Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)
2. Latest EU policy developments in the field of bioenergy - Andreas Pilzecker, DG ENER, European Commission
3. Biogas from waste in 5 European cities: the UrbanBiogas project - Dominik Rutz, WIP Renewable Energies, Germany
4. The GreenGasGrids Project: Boosting the European biomethane market - Axel Blume, dena, Germany
5. The Biomaster Project: biomethane for transport - Stefano Proietti, Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS), Italy
6. Biomethane Markets and Policies in Europe - Sabine Strauch, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Germany
7. Biomethane Road Map and Certification - Attila Kovacs, EBA, Brussels
8. Standards of Biomethane - Mattias Svensson, SGC, Sweden
9. Sustainability of Biomethane - William Mezzullo, Renewable Energy Association, UK
10. Biomethane production and use in Skåne - Carina Sühnel, Region Skåne, Sweden
11. Plans for a Biomethane Plant in Graz - Ernst Meissner, Energy Agency Graz, Austria
12. Securing Feedstock for biomethane production in Norfolk - James Thorpe, Norfolk County Council, United Kingdom
13. Waste collection challenges for biogas production in Zagreb - Bojan Ribić, Zagreb City Holding, Croatia
14. Biomethane developments in Trentino - Silvia Silvestri, Fundation Edmund Mach (FEM), Italy
15. Plans for a dry fermentation plant in Valmiera - Mārtiņš Niklass, ZAAO, Latvia
16. Overview on Biogas Upgrading Technologies - Michael Beil, Fraunhofer IWES, Germany (presentation will be available soon)
17. Overview of biomethane use in transport - Marco Tassan, FIAT Research Centre (CRF), Italy
18. Injection of Biomethane in the Natural Gas Grid - John Baldwin, Renewable Energy Association, UK