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New Studies Show Biogas/Biomethane Is a Valuable Ally In the Fight Against Climate Change
Here’s an overview of key biogas news.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES & LAW
EIB launches €700 million fund supporting agriculture and bioeconomy
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved €700 million of financing for the agriculture and bioeconomy sector. The initiative aims to unlock around €1.6 billion of investment in these sectors by supporting private companies operating throughout the value chains of production and processing of food, bio-based materials and bioenergy. The funding will be guaranteed by the European Union (EU) budget under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which forms the financial pillar of the ‘Investment Plan for Europe’.
Read more on Bioenergy Insight
Under new law, Oregon utilities hope to prove potential of renewable natural gas
The state’s largest gas utility plans to invest $30 million a year in a bid to replace 5% of fossil gas by 2024. A new law in Oregon is expected to spur more than $30 million in investments in renewable natural gas annually, nudging the state’s market away from fossil fuels toward biogas — a trend experts say will curtail emissions and stifle demand for fracked gas. The effort stems from policy changes made by Oregon lawmakers last fall that upend restrictions that effectively forced utilities to buy the cheapest natural gas around — the kind sourced from fossil fuels.
CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
New deal to turn Peterborough food waste into energy
Severn Trent Green Power has won a five-year contract with Peterborough City Council to manage the city’s food waste and convert it into renewable energy. The contract starts this week and includes responsibility for the collection, haulage and treatment of Peterborough’s separately collected kerbside food waste over five years, with a possible extension of a further three years. Peterborough’s food waste will be treated at Severn Trent Green Powers North London anaerobic digestion facility in London Colney, Hertfordshire, where 50,000 tonnes of household and commercial food waste is treated each year.
COMPANIES & ORGANIZATIONS
Biogest expands into the Spanish biogas market
Biogest has signed a cooperation agreement with the Spanish company Biologist SC SLU for further expansion of the company in a market with an attractive framework and a large availability of agro-industrial residues. Followed by projects in the United Kingdom, France, India, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, Spain has a huge market potential for biogas. The potential derived from the current management of organic waste, together with the support measures in the area of circular economy announced by the government, as well as the current low number of biogas plants in Spain, makes it a candidate with great potential for the development of new biogas businesses in the medium term.
Read more on Renewable Energy Magazine
Ductor to build three biogas facilities in Poland utilising poultry waste
Finnish-Swiss biotech company Ductor is building three combined biofertiliser-biogas facilities in northern Poland. The new facilities will be built in Poland’s Zachodniopomorskie region, approximately 100km off the coast of the Baltic Sea. The plants will use 100% poultry waste to create renewable electricity and organic nitrogen fertiliser, helping to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Two of the new plants will have installed capacity of 0.5MW and the third will be 1MW. All three plants are expected to be operational in 2021.
Read more on Bioenergy Insight
Thermal flow meter optimised for biogas applications
Owners, operators and system designers of biogas production and recovery systems will want to explore the innovative ST80 Series thermal flow meter from Fluid Components International (FCI). These users will find the new Model ST80 Flow Meter provides optimal performance and the necessary features required for accuracy and repeatability in demanding biogas flow measurement applications. The ST80 is an easy to install, safe biogas flow meter that delivers a truly best cost solution.
Read more on Environmental Technology
RESEARCHES & STUDIES
Market Opportunities for Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock and Agro-Industrial Wastes in India
Under the auspices of GMI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed a report on the Market Opportunities for Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock and Agro-Industrial Wastes in India to help inform project developers, policymakers, and other interested stakeholders about the potential for biogas capture and use in India. The report covers: Uses of biogas and digestate; Current biogas policies and incentives in India; Biogas production potential from India’s largest agricultural production industries, including: Dairy, Milk processing, and others.
Read more on Global Methane Initiative
Aalborg U study finds biogas and biomethane reduce dry biomass consumption by up to 16%
Replacing dry biomass-derived fuels with biogas and biogas-derived fuels in certain sectors of the energy system can reduce dry biomass consumption by up to 16% when used for power, heat or industrial sectors, according to a new study by researchers By Aalborg University in Denmark. This paper analyses the role of biogas and biogas-derived fuels in a 100% renewable energy system for Denmark using the energy system analysis tool EnergyPLAN. The end-fuels evaluated are biogas, biomethane and electromethane. First, a reference scenario without biogas is created.
Read more on Green Car Congress
Natural Gas is Key to Addressing Climate Change
The relationship between natural gas and climate change has fostered much confusion in the public and the media. Although natural gas is a fossil fuel, it has actually played a pivotal role in reducing the United States’ emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide. Indeed, natural gas will remain a vital component of the nation’s and the world’s energy strategy for some time, at least until the challenges of using renewable sources can be solved so that wind and solar can provide a stable source of electricity. Over the past eight years the United States has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases by more than any other country.
Read more on the Regulatory Review
Food waste impacts emerging as coronavirus shifts life from commercial to residential
As with other parts of the waste and recycling sector, experts say it is difficult to assess at this early stage how the pandemic will ultimately impact food waste volumes as people adapt to dramatically new systems. “Now more than ever, one of the concerns I’ve had is making sure that as much food as can be donated gets there first, before we compost [or throw it out],” Emily Broad Leib, FLPC director, told Waste Dive. In an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, a number of cities and several states are recommending everything from basic social distancing measures to wide-scale orders to stay at home.