Country Report Summary 2017

IEA Bioenergy Task 37 – Country Reports Summary 2017

Spring 2018

Summary

Biogas production in the IEA Bioenergy Task 37-member countries is clearly dominated by Germany with more than 10,000 biogas plants. None of the other member countries have each more than 1,000 biogas plants (see Figure 17.1).

The annual biogas production is around 100 TWh in Germany, 23 TWh in the UK34, 5.5 in France, around 5 TWh in Brazil and 4 TWh in the Netherlands. Remaining countries show production rates in the range of 0.5-2 TWh (see Figure 17.2). In countries like South Korea, the biogas produced in landfills is the largest source, while landfill gas is only a minor contributor in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Denmark, indicating the low level of landfilling of organic waste material. The actual biogas production is not reported in all countries, so in this report it has been calculated, based mostly on the electricity production with an assumed efficiency of 35%.

The biogas produced is in most countries mainly used for generation of heat and electricity, except for Sweden where approximately half of the produced biogas is used as vehicle fuel. Germany is second in absolute numbers. Many other countries, such as France, The Netherlands, Denmark and South Korea, have emerging markets for biomethane as an automotive fuel.

The amount of biomethane produced and the number of biogas upgrading plants is increasing. In Figure 17.3a the distribution of 532 biogas upgrading plants among the IEA Bioenergy Task 37-member countries is shown; the technologies used is indicated in Figure 17.3b.

The two countries in the recent past with the most applications of biomethane, Germany and Sweden, have stagnant markets. As a result, UK has now taken over the second position from Sweden. France and Switzerland are examples of other countries with significant growth.

Financial support systems are very different from country to country. Various systems with feed-in tariffs, investment grants and tax exemptions exist. A clear correlation between the financial support system and the way biogas is utilised is evident in the Task 37-member countries. In the UK and Germany with feedin tariffs for electricity, this has led to most of the biogas being used to produce electricity, while the system with tax exemption in Sweden favours utilisation of the biogas as an automotive fuel. With benefits offered, gas grid injection will grow, as is the case in France, Denmark and the UK.