English Issue Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2017</strong> 2
Biogas Journal | <strong>Autumn</strong>_<strong>2017</strong> Editorial Tender volume not fully utilised Dear Readers, this year, existing biogas plants, whose payment period under the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) ends in 2021, have had the opportunity to apply for further funding for their electricity for another 10 years by way of a tendering process. This is the first tender process for biomass in Germany. In mid September the results of this first tendering round for electricity from biomass were announced. Twenty-four plant operators were awarded contracts based on their bids. The lowest bid value to be awarded a contract was 9.86 cents/kWh. The highest accepted tender was 16.90 cents/kWh. The average, volume-weighted tender value was 14.30 cents/kWh. As expected, the volume of the accepted bids was around 28 megawatts (MW), which was below the advertised volume of approximately 122 MW of installed capacity. This is partly because the highest bid values were relatively low, especially for new plants. It is also due to the fact that there is little incentive to get involved in a tender process early on under the current framework conditions for existing plants whose funding period will not end until the end of 2021 or later. If they took part in the tendering round now these plants would miss out on part of their existing – and generally higher – funding under the Renewables Energy Act in case they were awarded the contract. In addition, there is still a certain reticence in the industry towards the tendering procedure. It is therefore likely that the number of bids will increase in the second tendering round in 2018. However, the current tendering round has highlighted the need for improvement in the tendering system. The valuable contribution currently made by bioenergy plants towards stabilising the energy system will be lost if the present experiences are not taken into account in the next tendering round. Interestingly it seems that a range of plants fermenting renewable raw materials were also awarded contracts alongside plants that use residual and waste materials. As the average funding rates of these plants has up until now been much higher, this represents a significant cost reduction compared to the status quo. Plant operators are obviously considering concepts which will allow them to replace expensive silo maize as feedstock and instead use other, cheaper yet energyrich materials. The tendency is towards fermenting dried chicken dung with crop stover. It is, however, important to ensure that the amount of nutrient matter ending on a farm is not excessive, as the new fertilisation ordinance reduces the amount of fertiliser that can be applied to the fields, which means that more land is required. Another alternative is to ferment the maize stover left over after threshing in regions growing grain maize. The stover is silaged together with chopped sugar-beets, see article on page 20. With this, it is important to ensure that the stover is removed from the fields at the lowest cost possible. Harvesting with the maize chopper and the relevant number of loading wagons is obviously the most expensive method. Establishing large battery storage units to stabilize electricity grids is also expensive. You can find out who is investing where in this technology in Germany on page 8. By contrast, there is hardly any investment now in converting biogas to biomethane. Only 10 new plants were put into operation in 2016. This year, at the time of going to press, there have been just five new plants been put into operation in Germany, see page 6. Information about the situation regarding the use of biogas in other countries such as Costa Rica, Chile and Mexico can be found from page 30. In these countries, pressing issues are not just replacing fossil fuels or combatting climate change, but also increasing income, prosperity and yield in agriculture. And biogas offers real possibilities in this prospect. Yours sincerely, Martin Bensmann, Dipl.-Ing. agr. (FH) Biogas Journal Editor German Biogas Association 3