Biogas and Biomethane in Europe: Denmark, Germany, Italy lead
Over and again, legislators worldwide are confronting the same question: which technologies do we subsidise and support, when, by how much, and for how long. Get it right and those costs will reduce and should disappear once scale is reached. Solar and wind are on their way to proving that. What about biofuels?
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Carole Mathieu of the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) look at the last 10 years. The EU leaders are Denmark (10% of the gas grid), Germany (over 100,000 direct jobs) and Italy (focussed on the transport sector). Growth has been impressive but will be difficult to sustain if subsidies are cut too soon, say the authors.
At a time when the European Union (EU) is discussing its long-term climate strategy and drafting new legislation to foster the decarbonisation of its gas sector, a close look at the experience of Denmark, Germany and Italy with renewable gas production can provide valuable lessons.
For more than a decade, these three countries have supported biogas technologies and developed support schemes to facilitate their large-scale deployment. They have more recently focused on developing their biomethane potential...
Read the article on Energypost.eu