Biogas power plants could deliver faster and cheaper

21.11.2024

The German biogas industry warns that almost 10,000 biogas plants are at risk of being shut down in 2025. As their remuneration under the EEG expires, their operation will become uneconomical without a remedy.

Biogas power plants were in particularly high demand in the first half of November, as they reliably supplied renewable energy in weather conditions with little wind and sun. Although there will be even more demand for storable and grid-friendly biomass power to replace coal-fired power plants in the future, the industry feels let down by politicians. "The German government is expecting 18 billion euros in funding for new fossil-fuel power plants, but there is supposedly no money for us," complained Horst Seide, President of the German Biogas Association.

In an online forum in preparation for the Biogas Convention on November 27 and 28 in Kassel, he made specific demands: Plants that are now running out of the 20-year remuneration under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) would have to find follow-up funding. The industry is supporting this demand with the "Biogas is the future" campaign.

Seide called for a one-off EEG tender volume of 1,000 MW for biogas plants in 2025, as otherwise 10 percent of plants would be taken off the grid. "This would also make existing heating networks cold," he warned. It would be difficult to explain to villages that their completely renewable heat supply would be switched off just because there was no follow-up funding of a few cents per kWh.

Biogas plants could supply energy more flexibly

In order to be even more useful to the system, plants need a higher flexibility surcharge, Seide continued. It should be increased from 65 to 120 euros/MW. That sounds like a lot, but it would be far cheaper and quicker to implement than the 18 billion euros earmarked for new fossil natural gas power plants under the Power Plant Security Act (KWSG). "We can do it at half the price and much faster," Seide advertised.

"You can save billions with us," he addressed the politicians. The KWSG in its current form discriminates against biogas, said Seide. It only applies to plants with a capacity of 20 MW or more and does not allow new gas-fired power plants in the vicinity.

Biogas Managing Director Claudius da Costa Gomez emphasized that political uncertainties were currently preventing important investment decisions. The industry supplies 34 billion kWh of electricity and 10 billion kWh of heat from biogas plants per year. "This potential must be expanded and not shut down," he said.

Another option other than direct electricity and heat generation from biomass is the production of biomethane and feeding this renewable gas into the grid. However, this would also require investment. In Italy, the legislator has created exemplary conditions for this conversion, da Costa Gomez pointed out.

Author: Susanne Harmsen, E&M powernews