ENTSOG TYNDP 2017 - Main Report

3.3.3.2 Renewable gases

Currently renewable gases are biomethane, hydrogen and synthetic methane produced with power-to-gas technologies. They represent carbon neutral energies that can be produced continuously and injected and stored in the existing gas infrastructures. Given these common characteristics and their relatively low individual share in the energy mix, for this TYNDP renewable gases are summoned up for statistics reason as “biomethane”. Biomethane Its chemical characteristics are the same of natural gas. It can be produced from all kinds of organic materials using digesters or capturing it directly in landfill sites. Liquid manure, agricultural waste, energy crops and effluent from sewage treatment plant can be fed into biogas plants. Unblended biogas can be used for a range of applications including heating, cool- ing and power generation. When biogas is upgraded to biomethane (after removal of its high CO ² content) it can also be used in the transport sector and be injected into the natural gas grids and storage facilities as its composition is similar to that of natural gas. The biomethane output in 2014 was approximately 1.1bcm (12.2TWh), produced from over 255 upgrading plants with injection into the transmission or distribution grids in 13 countries  1) . According to the European Biogas Association  2) , by 2030 40% of the produced biogas is expected to be upgraded to biomethane (around 18bcm).

23,0

5

16

DE UK FR IT CZ Others EU

6,6

Agriculture (11,670) Landfill (1,882) Sewage (2,861) Other (827)

61,5

11

%

%

26,6

68

5,1 17,8

Figure 3.45: European biogas plants by the end of 2014 (Source: European Biogas Association).

Figure 3.46: Biogas production in Europe 2014

(Source: European Biogas Association).

 1) EBA Biomethane & Biogas Report 15: AT, CH, DE, DK, FI, FR, HU, IT, LU, NL, SE, ES and UK  2) Green Gas Grids: Proposal for a European Biomethane Roadmap, European Biogas Association, December 2013

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