Proposal for an environmental protection directive requested from the Commission
Baden-Württemberg, a German state known for its progressive environmental policies, is home to a significant untapped resource in the form of biogas plants. Biomethane and biogas, renewable energy sources, have the potential to complement other renewables like wind and solar, supporting the region's energy transition and decarbonization efforts.
However, the full potential of biogas plants is not being realized due to several factors. Integration and market challenges, focus on other renewables, regulatory and infrastructure limitations, and competition from emerging technologies are all hindering the growth and integration of biogas into the energy system.
The biomethane trading business in Baden-Württemberg has recently been consolidated under specialized companies, indicating a trend towards professionalization but also reflecting challenges in efficient market organization and supply-demand matching. The state and companies have focused heavily on expanding wind power capacity, sometimes diverting attention and investment from smaller-scale biogas infrastructure.
Biogas plants face hurdles such as feedstock supply constraints, grid connection limitations, and somewhat complex regulations, which restrict their growth and integration into the energy system. There is increasing interest and investment in other renewable energy carriers like green hydrogen, which can also be produced from biogas but often require further technological and economic development before widespread adoption.
Raimund Haser, a member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament since 2016, considers biogas plants an underestimated factor in the energy transition. He serves as the environmental policy spokesperson for the CDU parliamentary group and chairs the state committee on energy, environment, and climate protection for the CDU. In a recent conversation, Haser suggested that the state could be bolder in approving biogas plants without endangering the environment or people.
The network expansion plan is not built for continuous operation but for the absolute peak, leading to unnecessary network costs. Denmark, for instance, has many more biogas plants feeding into the gas grid, utilizing the advantage of gas storage. The network expansion for wind power from the north to the south consumption centers in Germany is oversized, with plans to move offshore wind power further out into the North Sea leading to extremely high network costs.
Concrete expansion targets, such as a certain installed capacity or the construction of another pumped storage power plant by the year 2035, should be set to achieve climate neutrality. With additional renewable heat, biogas could potentially provide up to a quarter of renewable energy for electricity and heat in the long term.
As the energy transition continues, it is crucial to explore all renewable energy sources, including biogas. The potential contribution of biogas plants to renewable energy generation in Baden-Württemberg is significant, and with the right policies and investments, this potential can be realized.
For more information, Stefanie Schlueter conducted the conversation with Raimund Haser. She can be reached at s.schlueter@our website.
References:
- Link to source 1
- Link to source 2
- Link to source 3
- Link to source 4
- Science and finance are vital elements in determining the efficient use of biogas plants, as more specialized companies take control of the biomethane trading business in Baden-Württemberg.
- Climate-change mitigation initiatives and renewable-energy goals can be further bolstered by promoting environmental-science research on biogas plants and addressing the challenges hindering their growth, such as feedstock supply constraints and grid connection limitations.
- The industry can foster innovation by investing in the development of technologies to produce green hydrogen from biogas, offering an alternative renewable energy carrier with great potential.
- In light of the significant potential of biogas plants, the state could collaborate with the industry and environmental-science experts to establish policies promoting the construction of more biogas infrastructure without harming the environment or people, thus speeding up the energy transition and decarbonization efforts.
