Overview of biomethane markets and regulations ... - Green Gas Grids
Overview of biomethane markets and regulations ... - Green Gas Grids
Overview of biomethane markets and regulations ... - Green Gas Grids
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Italy<br />
Status quo- biogas plants <strong>and</strong> <strong>biomethane</strong> plants<br />
There has been huge expansion in biogas operations in Italy in the recent past.<br />
Caused by encouraging feed-in tariffs for electricity generated from biogas many<br />
plants have been constructed <strong>and</strong> set into operation. There are more than<br />
300 plants with agricultural background <strong>and</strong> around 200 plants operating on l<strong>and</strong>fill<br />
gas. The electricity generating capacity <strong>of</strong> all these plants is roughly 480 MW. It<br />
must be stated that the development is exclusively related to electricity production<br />
<strong>and</strong> that no <strong>biomethane</strong> project has been commissioned so far.<br />
Political targets for biogas <strong>and</strong> <strong>biomethane</strong> production<br />
According to Directive 2009/28/EC, in 2020, 17 % <strong>of</strong> Italy’s final energy<br />
consumption must be covered by renewable sources [1]. Presuming final energy<br />
consumption slightly decreases due to energy efficiency measures, this means that<br />
in 2020 the final consumption <strong>of</strong> renewable energy must be 22.62 Mtoe. According<br />
to the Italian NREAP, energy from biogas is planned to contribute to the targets for<br />
2015 with an installed capacity <strong>of</strong> 545 MW that is expected to generate 2,397 GWh<br />
as gross electricity production. These figures are planned to increase up to 750 MW<br />
installed capacity <strong>and</strong> 3,200 GWh by 2020. However, the plan does not mention<br />
any specific targets for <strong>biomethane</strong> production.<br />
Figure 7: Italian gas transmission<br />
grid (source www.eni.it)<br />
Natural gas consumption,<br />
suppliers, infrastructure<br />
With its annual gas consumption <strong>of</strong><br />
close to 80 billion cubic metres,<br />
Italy represents one the world’s<br />
biggest market for natural gas.<br />
Natural gas is essential to satisfy<br />
Italy’s national energy dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
today more than one third <strong>of</strong> the<br />
electricity production is generated<br />
from natural gas. Since national gas<br />
resources are in decline, gas<br />
imports are expected to increase<br />
significantly in the future,<br />
representing a challenge to the<br />
existing gas infrastructure, <strong>and</strong><br />
several projects are underway in<br />
order to exp<strong>and</strong> gas import<br />
capacity.<br />
For Italy the most important natural<br />
gas suppliers are Russia <strong>and</strong> Algeria<br />
which together provide more than<br />
50 % <strong>of</strong> the imported natural gas.<br />
Residual gas comes from inl<strong>and</strong><br />
resources (10 %) <strong>and</strong> gas imports<br />
from Lybia (12 %), Norway (5 %)<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s (5 %). The<br />
transport system constitutes<br />
pipeline systems <strong>and</strong> the two LNG terminals Panigaglia <strong>and</strong> Porto Viro.<br />
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