Biomethane workshop in Brussels
EBA succeeds another biomethane workshop.
EBA, EUROGAS and GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe) organised a joint workshop on Trans-European Biomethane Market on 26 April in Brussels to highlight the potential of biomethane towards decarbonisation and energy security across Europe. The event gathered relevant stakeholders from academia, political institutions, national biomethane organisations and natural gas operators.
EBA’s President, Jan Stambasky, opened the discussion session inviting Arthur Wellinger, EBA’s Senior Advisor, to give an overview of the current biomethane situation in Europe and Tim Cayford from EUROGAS to outline the future of green gas from NG industry’s perspective. Some forefront countries have already achieved very good results with a notable share of renewable gas but a much higher share of “green gas” is however foreseeable in the future to make the gas supplies greener and stabilise the renewables intermittency in the electricity production.
The audience also learnt about the progress made so far by three EU pioneers countries – Sweden, Germany and France – driven by different national support systems. To remove obstacles and enable a European internal market for biomethane, Attila Kovacs, member of EBA’s Board, presented ERGaR, a certification scheme under development for cross-border trade of biomethene. The project found legal support from Dörte Fouquet, partner of BBH Legal Services, and by the European Commission, that was represented by Ruta Baltause, from DG ENER. She also confirmed that power-to-gas will gather growing attention as a possible solution to absorb and value the current surplus of electricity in the EU.
The GIE Executive Secretary, Thierry Deschuyteneer, concluded the works recalling the high potential of biomethane in Europe for both production and consumption. The upcoming revision of the RED (Renewable Energy Directive), foreseen for late 2016, represents the best opportunity to legally recognise biomethane’s green added value at the European level.
