What will happen to Germany’s biogas when state subsidies stop?

A new research project has been set up to investigate how Germany’s biogas plants will operate after 2030, when the majority of the country’s 9,000 facilities are going to stop receiving state subsidies.

Germany’s federal environment agency has commissioned the German biomass research centre (DBFZ) to carry out the research. DBFZ claims that Germany’s renewable energy act (EEG) means that in thirteen years, a “large number” of biogas plants will no longer receive support.

The DBFZ believes that options need to be provided for how existing biogas facilities can be used “economically and ecologically” post-2030. Germany’s energy system is likely to undergo significant change in the future, as the country looks to balance energy production from biogas and other renewable sources in the face of ever increasing demand.

Jaqueline Daniel-Gromke, a DBFZ project manager, told Ends Wastewater and Bioenergy: "The aim of the project is to define the measures to be taken for the implementation of alternative plant concepts and to provide policymakers with as concrete proposals as possible for the necessary adjustments, including the legal framework."

The research project is set to last for two years. The researchers will select plant concepts and an assessment matrix in November 2017.