NGVA Europe keeps you informed!

15/05/2012 - Growing industry commitment to NGVs – Westport and Swagelok also request to join NGVA Europe’s Board of Directorsmore

30/04/2012 - EP plenary supports extension of tax benefits for natural gas and biomethane as a transport fuelmore

26/04/2012 - Linde, Bohlen & Doyen and Gasrec request to take seats on NGVA Europe’s Board of Directorsmore

28/03/2012 - Final GasHighWay Seminar in Brussels proved to be true successmore

13/03/2012 - Energy Taxation proposal strongly debated in parliament and changes requested - low taxes for the next 10 years, and up to 50% energy tax relief on Natural Gas from 2023 until 2030more

11/03/2012 - Green Gas Grids: NGVA europe participates in new EU project to boost the biomethane marketmore

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"Biomethane represents a significant and under-utilised source of renewable energy in Ireland"

NGVA Europe A-level member Bord Gáis recognises the significant challenges posed by the ambitious EU and Irish renewable energy targets in electricity, heat and transport. The leading Irish gas company that joined NGVA Europe in 2010 recently published a report that examines the production and use of biomethane as a renewable energy source in Ireland and its potential contribution to assist in meeting Ireland’s renewable energy targets. The report outlines the potential benefits associated with developing this renewable fuel source as well as the barriers that must be overcome to make renewable gas a reality. “The production of grid quality biomethane or renewable gas can play a vital role in helping Ireland to attain its renewable energy targets”, says John Mullins, CEO of Bord Gáis.

The EU and the Irish Government have set bold renewable energy, environmental and waste management targets for Ireland, but renewable energy currently accounts for only around 4% of Ireland’s total gross final energy demand. Obviously something needs to be done to address this, shortfall the reports says.

The following recommendations should be considered by policy makers to encourage biomethane production in Ireland:

Set national targets for a proportion of gas demand to be met from biomethane.
Review the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) to support biomethane fed directlyinto the natural gas grid. The new tariff could be in line with the support structure used in Germany.
Implement regulatory conditions to allow biomethane producers to inject biomethane directly into the gas grid and adopt suitable standards that will regulate the quality of biomethane that may be injected into the gas grid. Such standards will deal with gas specifications such as chemical composition and energy content.
Implement new support structures for agriculture to provide an incentive for farmers to produce feedstock for biomethane production.
Align renewable energy and waste management policies to deliver certainty around feedstock supply over the life of the biomethane plant.
More funding for research, development and demonstration of renewable gas technologies, building upon the existing expertise in biotechnology and information technology.

The EU Biofuels Directive and the Government White Paper set a target of 4% biofuel market share (by volume) in the transportation sector by 2010 and 10% by 2020. Biomethane could be an economically viable transport fuel (see table) and is already used in other countries. The report accentuates the great potential for a blended gaseous transport fuel (90% natural gas and 10% biomethane) in Ireland, which would be a cheap and clean transport fuel in compliance with European legislation.

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