Overview of biomethane markets and regulations ... - Green Gas Grids

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e.g. primarily the KEV scheme, were put in place. However, if it appears that this goal cannot be met, the Energy Act provides an option to introduce a renewable obligation by the year 2016. In autumn 2011 the Parliament decided to step out of nuclear energy and not replacing existing nuclear power plants until 2030. The result of this decision will see some change in policies. The Swiss Gas Industry considers biogas as an essential element of the Swiss energy supply and supports biomethane with a biogas fund to increase biomethane production by a factor of six within the coming six years. Natural gas consumption, suppliers, infrastructure After the decision to exit nuclear power, Switzerland may increase natural gas consumption. At present 12 % of the Swiss final energy consumption is based on natural gas but compared to other European countries the gas utilisation is rather underdeveloped. Only 0.7 % of the European natural gas consumed accounts for Switzerland. This is the result of little inland resources and the dependence on gas imports. Switzerland receives 41 % of its natural gas from the European Union. Moreover, Norway (23 %) and Russia (24 %) are major suppliers. Liquid natural gas is not significant since country's geographical position provides limited access to LNG. The Swiss grid has a total length of 17,500 km thereof about 2,150 km belonging to the transmission network (> 5 bar) and 15,800 km to the distribution network (< 5 bar). The grid is well established in the North, whereas in the mountainous areas the expansion of the network is very limited. In the southern part of the country the gas grid has started developing. Historically, the Swiss gas industry is organised locally and federally with four regional gas suppliers (Erdgas Ostschweiz, Gasverbund Mittelland, Gaznat und Erdgas Zentralschweiz) and more than 100 local gas suppliers serving the Swiss consumers. Most of the needed gas is procured by Swissgas AG as commissioned by the regional gas suppliers. Minor gas quantities are bought from foreign gas suppliers. Swissgas is fully owned by its shareholders who are the four regional gas suppliers and the Association of the Swiss Gas Industry and sells at cost price. Switzerland has one of the most developed infrastructures for gas vehicles and takes a leading position in the CNG utilisation within the transport sector. According to gasmobil AG there are 130 public filling stations and about 10,000 CNG cars such as passenger cars, commercial and light duty vehicles. The Swiss government is aware of the environmental benefits of gas as a vehicle fuel and supports both CNG and LPG by a beneficial tax policy. The Federal Office of Import and Trade is in charge of supervising the natural gas market. In terms of technical supervision the SVGW (Schweizer Verein für Gas und Wasser / Swiss Gas and Water Association) is in the authority to provide technical rules and advice. Technical standards for biomethane and natural gas The Swiss Gas Industry grants a non-discriminatory but not priority grid access for biogenic gases. There are no restrictions regarding the sources of biogenic gases apart from ecological points. The SVGW standard G13-09 determines the gas quality requirements in order to protect the pipeline system, the measuring devices and the gas customers from inappropriate gases entering the public grid. Moreover, the technical standards SVGW G11 on odorization and SVGW G209 on the technical Page 46
ealisation of the grid connection are of particular relevance for gas injection. In the Swiss public grid propane or LPG can be used to augment the heating value of injected biomethane. In principal blending of biomethane containing a high CO2 levels is possible as long as the resulting gas stream meets the quality requirements. Support schemes In 2009 Switzerland introduced the KEV scheme (Kostendeckende Einspeisevergütung / Equivalent Cost Covering) setting feed-in tariffs for RES. Having been implemented, the scheme was met with great interest and the limited budget was spent within the first months. Therefore the financial resources have been increased and account today to 247 million SFR per annum. According to the Energy Ordinance, the operators of biogas plants commissioned after 1 st of January 2006 enjoy basic tariffs depending on plant size of 0.175 to 0.28 SFR (about 14.6 €cent to 23.3 €cent) per electrical kilowatt hour. The scheme sets minimum requirements for efficiency, but also rewards bonuses for facilities with a high degree of heat utilisation, defined by an annual degree of heat and electricity utilisation (Figure 13). Plants using agricultural residues and less than 20 % cosubstrates such as energy crops or biowaste are eligible to receive an additional bonus of 0.45 SFR per electrical kilowatt hour for plants of less than 5 MW installed to 0.18 SFR per kWh for plants with less than 50 kW. The Swiss policy refrains from rewarding additional incentives for biogas upgrading. Biogenic gases that feed the grid and used for electricity production receive the same remuneration as sewage gas facilities. The KEV remuneration for biomass plants is granted for 20 years. In contrast to other RES technologies producing electricity, the tariffs for biomass projects are not subject to an annual reduction since the cost decrease resulting from technology development is cancelled out by the price escalation of the substrates. Figure 13: Minimum requirements of annual energy utilisation according to Swiss KEV scheme (electricity utilisation degree vs heat utilisation degree) If biomethane is used as a vehicle fuel, no feed-in tariff will be applied, however the gas is exempt of mineral oil tax. This tax exemption is linked to a life cycle Page 47
Page 1 and 2: Overview of biomethane markets and
Page 3 and 4: This report has been created within
Page 5 and 6: Note on legal topics All legal topi
Page 7 and 8: Due to all these differences in pre
Page 9 and 10: gas consists mainly of hydrogen and
Page 11 and 12: with the current situation in terms
Page 13 and 14: Croatia Status quo- biogas plants a
Page 15 and 16: the gas supplier are defined on the
Page 17 and 18: Figure 3: French natural gas transm
Page 19 and 20: Germany Status quo- biogas plants a
Page 21 and 22: Figure 5: German transmission grid
Page 23 and 24: The price for allowances is market
Page 25 and 26: Hungary possesses excellent agro-ec
Page 27 and 28: Italy Status quo- biogas plants and
Page 29 and 30: plants with a maximum capacity of 1
Page 31 and 32: Natural gas plays a major role in t
Page 33 and 34: Poland Status quo- biogas plants an
Page 35 and 36: Figure 8: Gas transmission grid in
Page 37 and 38: Slovakia Status quo - biogas plants
Page 39 and 40: electricity and gas system and the
Page 41 and 42: Sweden Status quo- biogas plants an
Page 43 and 44: positive climate for the deployment
Page 45: Switzerland Status quo - biogas pla
Page 49 and 50: United Kingdom Status quo - biogas
Page 51 and 52: n Feed-in tariffs n Renewable Trans
Page 53 and 54: LEC Levy Exemption Certificates LIP

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