Autumn 2017 EN

Biogas Journal | Autumn_2017 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
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