Bioenergy Insight caught up with Giulia Cancian, secretary general of the European Biogas Association (EBA) at this year’s European Biogas Conference.
“This year, we’re talking about the transition towards net-zero, but we are putting a big focus on resilience,” said Cancian, when Bioenergy Insight asked what the main theme of this year’s event is.
“And what we mean by that is resilience of the systems – ensuring we can use all possible solutions. This includes biogas and biomethane, but also competitiveness of the sector and security.”
This year, there is a focus on the multi-faceted nature of sustainability, she added. This entails profitability, as well as the environmental angle and competitiveness.
Growing sector
Bioenergy Insight observed a lot of delegates saying they were attending this flagship conference for the first time. For Cancian, this means the sector is growing, and the EBA sees that in the numbers.
“In the past four years, biomethane has grown twofold. And this is absolutely fantastic. From the projection we have seen, we know growth over the next few years will be well-sustained.”
The EBA’s last Biomethane Map shows, at the moment, there are 6.4 billion cubic meters of capacity installed in Europe.
Similarly, the EU-27 countries’ growth has reached 37% compared to the last edition of the Biomethane Map, while the capacity of the non-EU countries analysed grew by 20% compared to the 2022-2023 dataset.
“This actually corresponds to the growth in terms of people that are starting working in the sector. So it's quite nice to see a lot of old aficionados, but also a lot of new faces that are approaching the sector for the first time.”
Indeed, the EBA is committed to supporting the next generation of renewables professionals, in the form of a European Renewable Gas Training Centre.
“We held the first training the day before the conference and, next year, we will provide some opportunities around Europe to concentrate on the very technical and operational side of what it means to operate biogas and biomethane plants. This includes security and financing, amongst other things.”
The EBA is also involved at European level in roundtables looking at professional skills with the European Commission. The aim is to ensure adequate curricular at university and vocational courses to foster an educated workforce for the future.
Regulation
In terms of regulation, Cancian said having indicative targets for biomethane, and the political prioritisation in the sector, resulted in renewed energy in the sector.
“We would like to ask the European Commission to consider having a binding target for biomethane for 2040. This would really give the right push to the sector to feel we are part of the solution, and that we are needed for the future.
“In turn, this would probably translate in more investments and a certain security from operators to continue working.”
Competitiveness in clean technologies
Cancian further identified the role biogas has in the renewables landscape more holistically. The main advantage it has is that biogas technologies are primarily made and operated in Europe.
“We have leadership in patents, we have leadership in equipment manufacturing and many of our companies are very successful in trading with countries outside of the EU – and I think that we need to capitalise on this.
“After the Draghi report was launched, I think the word ‘competitiveness’ was on everyone’s mouth. But also in terms of aggressive interest of the EU, in terms of trade with their countries.
“I think it’s important that we start communicating that we have not lost the race on renewable technologies. We are still there, and we are still very much based in Europe, and we count on continuing being there on the political level.”
She added: “Obviously we need a supportive trade policy, but also a supportive innovation and research policy, because if we are to continue to be a leader in terms of patenting R&D, we need to be at the cutting edge for technologies.”
EBA Conference 2024: Secretary General calls for 2040 biomethane targets
