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An EU-wide conference on the future of the biogas industry in London next week includes a strong focus on cross-border trading of renewable gas and certificates.
The associated intensification in competition could be a wake-up call for Ireland to speed up the establishment of a domestic biogas industry, with huge potential identified from slurry, grass and crops. Imports of renewable gas have already started and could accelerate as a certificates market develops.
At the recent European Biomethane Conference in Dublin, Jeppe Bjerg, the Danish president of the European Renewable Gas Registry (ERGaR), said he wanted the EU to recognise the trade of proofs that biogas was injected into the network in one country, and consumed in another. This is to “allow access to production where waste and biomass are available and costs are low”, he said. Emerging Irish renewable gas producers would then face competition from places such as oversuppplied Germany, without the gas being physically transported here.
This is less likely to happen in electricity, according to Dirk Hendricks of the European Renewable Energies Federation. He said new EU policy was to favour local, decentralised generation systems. However, he added that a risk remains from competition with cheap, subsidised and carbon-neutral nuclear power from countries such as France, which has plans to build an interconnector with Ireland.
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