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XtraBlatt Issue 01-2022

  • Text
  • Xtrablatt
  • Carbon
  • Farmers
  • Machinery
  • Contractors
  • Germany
  • Grassland
  • Slurry
  • Biogas
  • Agricultural
  • Krone

TITLE TOPIC BIOGAS:

TITLE TOPIC BIOGAS: “WE NEED Horst Seide sells around half of his biogas at his own CNG filling stations. The association estimates that Germany alone will need an estimated additional 5000 or so biogas plants to capitalise on its biogas potential. TO TAKE THE BRAKES OFF.” The war in Ukraine is causing upheaval on energy markets. Biogas offers a good chance for greater independence and for greater value creation for farmers in the short term, too, Horst Seide, the President of the German Biogas Association (Fachverband Biogas), stresses. In an interview, he explains how these opportunities can be seized and the extent to which this could happen. XtraBlatt: In early March, the European Commission unveiled a target for the EU to produce 35 billion m³ of biomethane by 2030 as part of its REPowerEU plan. Do you think that’s realistic and feasible? Horst Seide: Yes, provided the necessary conditions are put in place, especially on the legislative front. But the biogas production goal that the Commission has set will pose tremendous challenges to all of Europe. After all, we’re talking about increasing production tenfold in the span of eight years. XtraBlatt: But Germany is bound to be a pioneer, isn’t it? has been taking this approach for years now, and we had pinned our hopes on the new German Government. But, at least as things stand in spring, we haven’t seen much change for the better on this front. The EU strategy has been approved nonetheless. In the future, this may mean that the EU is actually spurring Germany to take action. And not for the first time. After all, these decisions define the goals that Germany will have to meet. It would be wiser and better for all of us to actively leverage the opportunities, resources and structures that exist. The biogas sector can make a huge contribution toward energy independence. electricity output, even in 2030 or 2035. But production will certainly look quite different then to the way it does now. Flexible supply and selling through electricity exchanges will be key. What’s more, I think there is tremendous potential to produce biogas that can be fed directly into the gas network. Including all the substrate sources that are still largely untapped today, I estimate that energy output from biogas could easily be doubled to reach around 220TWh. XtraBlatt: Such claims will likely sound the alarm bells for many critics given that more fields would have to be dedicated to maize to make this happen… Horst Seide: That might be the case. No, actually, Germany has to lead the way. At the end of the day, we’ve already got the largest number of biogas plants in Europe by quite some margin. But if you listen carefully to my words, you’ll notice that I’m still not entirely confident that we actually will be trailblazers. For instance, there was a great deal of agreement at a meeting of the European Council where ministers from the different member states were supposed to comment on the topic of biogas. Just one country raised concerns... XtraBlatt: Germany? Horst Seide: Yes, and we were the only country to do so. The fact that Germany is now holding up the expansion of biogas is pretty annoying. The previous government THE FACT THAT GERMANY IS NOW HOLDING UP THE EXPANSION OF BIO- GAS IS PRETTY ANNOYING. HORST SEIDE, PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN BIOGAS ASSOCIATION XtraBlatt: What scale do you think it might reach? Horst Seide: At a rough estimate, biogas plants in Germany produce approximately 100 terawatt-hours (TWh) of raw gas. Some 99% of this is used to generate electricity and much of it is harnessed indirectly to produce heat. Around 1% of biogas serves as fuel. The biogas sector wants to maintain its current Horst Seide: We don’t really want any more maize. But we can’t scale back production in the current crisis, either. The bulk of the substrate that we would need to ramp up gas production would come from other places. To give a few examples: According to calculations from the German Biogas Association, drawing simply on all available slurry and solid manure resources would drum up an additional 20TWh or so. Substrate from previously unused grasslands and straw could provide another 40TWh. And we could round up another 60TWh if politicians allowed us to plant and harvest crops that meet environmental criteria and that are an equally good fuel for digesters on just half of the set-aside land and flower pastures required by the EU. We shouldn’t forget the need to include recovery crops to our rotations as we extend our cropping 6 7