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USA Encourages Biogas and Biofuel Production in Rural Areas
Here’s an overview of key biogas news.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES & LAW
Hydrogen and biomethane pipe upgrade project set to slash UK’s grid emissions
Hydrogen and biomethane gas pipelines will replace old iron ones leading to a reduction, which is estimated to be equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road. A significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the UK grid is expected in the next 12 years as a result of a new pipe upgrade project announced by the Energy Networks Association. The work is part of the Iron Mains Risk Replacement Programme, which replaces old iron gas pipelines in Britain’s low-pressure gas networks with hydrogen and biomethane-ready piping made from plastic.
Poland to invest in innovative agricultural biogas plants
Twenty farm-scale biogas plants based on innovative Polish technology that will allow agricultural substrate management and its conversion into electricity and biomethane will be built under a letter of intent signed at the Ministry of Agriculture, reports the Polish News Agency (PAP). The letter of intent on cooperation was signed by Orlen Poludnie, which is active in the production of biofuels and biocomponents, Poznan University of Life Sciences and the National Support Center for Agriculture (KOWR), which supervises Poland’s largest farms where the biogas plants are to be built.
Read more on Budapest Business Journal
America puts biogas at the heart of rural recovery
Biogas production is to be at the heart of a $10 million study into how to boost ‘struggling’ rural economies while protecting the environment. The new federal grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture will allow a research team led by Iowa State University, Penn State and Roeslein Alternative Energy to develop new cheaper and more efficient methods of turning biomass and manure into fuel. To be known as C-CHANGE – the Consortium for Cultivating Human and Natural reGenerative Enterprise – the five-year programme will seek to create new value chains on US farms, with emphasis on the generation of renewable natural gas (RNG).
Read more on World Biogas Association
CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
New Zealand’s first food waste to bioenergy facility gets under way in Reporoa
Construction is set to begin on New Zealand’s first large-scale food waste to bioenergy facility in Reporoa. Each year the facility is expected to remove up to 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of planting 218,400 trees every year. After the blessing of the land by Ngāti Tahu-Ngati Whaoa today, construction will begin on the anaerobic digestion facility, which is owned by Ecogas – a joint venture between Pioneer Energy Ltd and Ecostock Supplies Ltd – on land owned by T&G Fresh, one of New Zealand’s largest fresh produce businesses.
Bottoms up! Thousands of litres of expired beer fuel wastewater treatment plant in Australia
By adding around 150,000 litres of expired beer to the plant’s digester, a water utility was able to generate enough biogas to power 1,200 homes. Millions of litres of expired beer from local South Australian breweries have been given a second life by being converted into electricity to power a wastewater treatment plant in Australia. The coronavirus lockdown closed breweries, pubs and restaurants across the region, resulting in tonnes of unsold beer. This unused supply was used by the water utility SA Water to power the treatment process of its Glenelg wastewater plant in Adelaide, boosting its renewable energy generation to 654MW in a single month.
COMPANIES & ORGANIZATIONS
‘We pay a tax to produce clean energy’: the Queensland pig farmer who is leading the way on climate action
Laurie Brosnan is frustrated. “We pay a tax to produce clean energy,” says the pig farmer from Biloela in central Queensland. In the past five years, his company, Bettafield Piggery, has invested millions of dollars in an advanced biogas system that not only meets all its own electricity needs, but feeds extra back into the grid. It also takes care of all the piggery’s organic waste – plus extra food waste from schools and cafes in the nearby town – and generates water for irrigation and rich compost for the fields.
TerraX, SWEN Impact Fund in biomethane joint venture
TerraX, an Italian developer of renewable gas projects, has entered into a joint venture with the SWEN Impact Fund for Transition (SWEN), managed by SWEN Capital Partners, to invest in biomethane. TerraX is led by biogas expert Michael Niederbacher, who has designed and built more than 220 units in 12 countries worldwide. SWEN is the first European impact fund entirely dedicated to the financing of renewable gas infrastructure. The joint venture will build and operate more than 10 biomethane projects to produce renewable gas in Italy, which will be injected into the networks or marketed as bio-LNG.
Read more on Bioenergy Insight
WEC Energy Group targets carbon neutrality by 2050 after hitting emissions goals a decade early
Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group has set its sights on a carbon-neutral future after reaching its emissions reduction goals early. After crunching the numbers for their 2019 reports, company spokesperson Brendan Conway said WEC Energy Group realized that the accelerated retirement of several coal plants in 2018 caused the company’s emissions to hit the 40% target last year. WEC subsidiaries We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service have retired more than 1,800 MW of coal since 2018, including the 1,190 MW Pleasant Prairie Power Plant.
RESEARCHES & STUDIES
Biogas use getting popular in rural areas
Biogas, an alternative to conventional fuel oil or wood, is being increasingly used in Bangladesh. It is being used for cooking and other household purposes in mostly rural areas of the country. The consumers are now using it in place of wood and other fuels because it is cost-effective and environment-friendly. The residue left after gas extraction is good organic manure free from harmful germs and pathogens. Cattle dung, poultry droppings and garbage are processed in the biogas plants under anaerobic conditions to produce biogas.
Read more on The Financial Express
INVESTMENT IN BIOGAS COULD BE A BOON FOR LIVESTOCK FARMS
A dairy farmer says federal support of renewable energy projects could accelerate sustainable and economic viability on farms. Fair Oaks Farms founder Mike McCloskey says anerobic digesters come with a big price tag which is why he believes Congress should offer investment tax credits of 30 percent and stacking of USDA programs to help small and medium-sized farms invest in renewable energy projects and maintain a reliable market. “We believe that regenerative farming, sustainable farming, these digesters, and these investments in how we’re farming is incredibly important, but not everyone can afford them. Read more on BrownField AG News