BIOGAS DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE: CURRENT STATE AND PERSPECTIVES ADTech2015, 3-6 February Chiang Mai, Thailand prof. Saulius Vasarevicius
Anaerobic Digestion Biogas generation in oxygen free conditions: Diverse feedstocks - but variable biogas potential Misrepresented as a waste management system Danger of over-regulation or policy straight-jacket Scale matters - technology must be appropriate Incentives - energy generation & surplus heat use Evolving technology: Municipal: landfill diversion On-farm: slurry/crops Industrial: waste/co-products 2
Biogas it is question of Origin and Age Source: M.Seifert, 2013 3
Biogas: many sources one product Roads to biogas (biomethane): Biomethane from anaerobic digestion (1. Generation) Biomethane from wood gasification (2. Generation) Biomethane from tailor made algae (3. Generation) Biomethane from Power to Gas biological conversion (xx.generation) 4
Anaerobic Digestion and the Foodchain Entire industry under pressure to: Manage waste more effectively Cut carbon and water footprint Cut fossil fuel energy costs What about smaller farms? Economies of scale Unsuitable technologies Insufficient information Capital Requirements Farm-scale AD solutions: New Feed in Tariffs (government support) Modular solutions (technological solutions) Finance packages (financial support) 5
Biogas plants in Europe in 2012 6
Primary energy production of biogas in the EU in 2011 (ktoe) 7
Global biomass demand and potential Source: International Energy Agency, 2011 Note: 1 Ej (Exajoule) = 10 18 joules. 1 Ej = 23 Mtoe 8
Current EU biomass potential, total over 170 Mtoe of biomass by 2020 Source: European Biomass Association, 2011 9
EU energy mix 2020 Source: International Energy Agency, 2011 10
The main biomass sources Source: Floris van Foreest, 2012 11
Background for biogas innovations in Eastern Europe Source: A.Oja, A.Roose, 2010 12
Biogas Plants in Europe Source: M.Seifert, 2013 13
Biogas production, potentials and targets in Europe Source: European Biogas Association, 2011 14
Policy framework for biogas sector in Eastern Europe Biogas sector is multidimensional, it has interactions with: Waste management; Nature protection and landscape management; Agriculture; Regional, rural socio-economic SME development; Technology and knowledge transfer, R&D. Waste should be considered as secondary source for renewable energy, not as externality with extra cost. Current legal and social circumstances not enough support biogas sector development in Eastern Europe. Source: A.Oja, A.Roose, 2010 15
Eastern Europe, Baltic States Population: - Estonia: 1.32 million - Latvia: 2.02 million - Lithuania: 2.97 million - TOTAL: 6.31 million Total Area: - 175,015 km2 Members of the European Union since 2004 16
Biogas plants in Estonia 15 biogas plants, installed capacity ~9 MWe Source: I.Dzene, 2014 17
Biogas plants in Latvia 54 biogas plants, installed capacity ~55 MWe Source: I.Dzene, 2014 18
Biogas plants in Lithuania 21 biogas plants, installed capacity ~ 20 MWe Source: I.Dzene, 2014 19
Biogas plants in Czech Republik 235 biogas plants, installed capacity ~ 92 MWe The share of the biogas on RES was 9 %. Source: BiogasIN, 2011 20
Biogas plants in Poland 178 biogas plants, installed capacity ~ 104 MWe The share of the biogas on RES was 9 %. 87 landfill biogas plants 54 MWe 67 sewage biogas plants 34 MWe 24 agricultural biogas plants 16 MWe RES balance Source: B. Iglinski, 2012 21
Renewable energy sources in Poland 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 Electric energy 722.1 1596.9 2762.2 3269.0 3411.3 Biomass 302.6 492.3 808.3 969.2 1009.9 Biogas 31.4 140.7 349.1 552.0 592.6 Wind 174.0 24% 718.9 45% 1330.0 48% 1470.0 45% 1530.0 45% Water 214.0 244.9 274.6 276.7 276.7 Photovoltaics 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.1 2.1 Total national electric energy demand [TWh] Gross demand 151.9 160.2 171.8 192.8 207.4 Source: Z.Leonowich, 2012 22
Biogas plants in operation in Hungary Plants Biogas (agriculture) 36,95 Municipal waste 6,49 Pyrolisis 1,66 Sewage 10,19 TOTAL: 55,28 MW From 2014: new operational programme for Renewable energy development. Source: H.Laczi, 2011 23
Eastern Europe Challenges Instability of the biogas support mechanisms Concerning also existing biogas plants Electricity generated from biogas is more expensive compared to hydro power or wind Lack of other alternatives: Undeveloped CNG market Non existent framework conditions for biomethane access to the natural gas grid 24
Eastern Europe Future directions Decision on biogas future policy: combined heat and power CHP grid-injection transport Increasing the sustainability and efficiency of existing biogas plants: types of feedstock feedstock supply use of heat 25
Eastern Europe Heat use from biogas plants In many cases the heat from the CHP plant is not used, but wasted This inefficiency in energy use is a bottleneck in current biogas production, causing macroeconomic and microeconomic losses and challenges in an overall increasing land use competition New plants, existing plants and plants undergoing renovation or extension in emerging European biogas markets need concrete solutions to efficiently use the heat 26
Biomethane value chain Source: Floris van Foreest, 2012 27
Most frequent Heat Use Options The most common heat use options for biogas plants are: 1.Direct heat use in mini heating grids 2.Biogas pipeline to sattelite CHP (combined heat and power or cogeneration) 3.Drying of woodchips, cereals, digestate 28
Investment costs for biogas plants Source: The National Non-Food Crops Centre, Deutsche Energie-Agentur, Energy Centre Netherlands ECN 2012 29
Comparison of three co-digestion plant concepts Source: Balussou, D., Kleyböcker, A., McKenna, R., Möst, D., Fichtner, W., 2012 30
Potential markets for biogas Source: Floris van Foreest, 2012 31
Success factors 1) Competitive heat price Tax reduction for heat from biogas plants; CHP bonus for efficient biogas plants; Dimensioning of biogas plant (optimal size): considering the actual heat demand and feed-in tariffs, availability of nearby substrates ; Use on own facility 2) Co-operation of farmers 3) Communication with other biogas plant operators (sharing of experience) 4) Public relations, especially when the biogas plant should be located near a city or municipality 5) Clear regulations with a long term perspective 6) Increasing of energy prices of fossil fuels 32
The reasons for slow development of biogas markets in Eastern Europe 1) Small size of investments; 2) Unstable, weak and too few public incentives; 3) Unstable legislative and tax framework; 4) Relatively short history of biogas market; 5) Investors reliability - new entities with no experience and financial records; 6) Investors insufficient knowledge and experience with long term investment loans and this type of business activity; 7) Too small equity ratio and weak insurance instruments offered by the investors; 8) Long term feedstock contracts or adequate size of available land in case of feedstock self-supply are often critical points for ensuring bankability of projects. 33
Conclusions (1) Regulations and instruments have to be directed towards: - Securing the creation of a sustainable biogas system - Stimulating the establishment of necesary infrastructure - Correcting market imperfections to make biogas competitive Regional and municipal authorities have to become the driving force behind implementation to secure creation of a biogas system National authorities have to back up regional and municipal efforts through programs, grants, investment, taxation of diesel and a total strategy to stimulate establishment of infrastructure and correcting market imperfections Biogas sector has clear public needs and advantages, because its multidimensional character and huge potential as renewable energy source 34
Conclusions (2) To become profitable, biogas sector needs: - Eco-innovations, knowledge transfer and testing and piloting sustainable production technologies and - Improving legal, attitudinal and social conditions to become favourable for biogas sector development Eastern European countries has potentially emerging market for biogas, which: needs public awareness and support; needs political strategic agenda, consensus and support; needs technological, social, legal, economic and social knowledge transfer (tested and adopted to local conditions, sustainable production principles, larger SME involvement). 35
Conclusions (3) In countries with established biogas markets (Poland, Latvia, Czech Republic etc.) non-technical support is also needed. Bioenergy, including biogas and biomethane, are facing continuous criticism. Therefore, there is a need to improve the biogas value chains in order to positively influence the public perception. This includes for example the reduction of environmental hazards and improvement of plant safety, application of mixed energy crops, increase of efficiency (heat use), as well as public consultation for new projects. In countries with very small biogas markets (e.g. Romania, Bulgaria etc.), there is an urgent need to provide additional support to improve the framework conditions. Without suitable framework conditions, including legislation with feed-in tariffs and willingness of politicians, only very small (if any) real developments can be achieved. 36
Thank you for your attention! 37