European farmers use biogas to offset Russia’s energy
By 2030, France may replace the share of imported Russian gas with biomethane obtained from agricultural waste, writes the British newspaper Independent ,
KYIV. UkraineGate , 7 , May , 2022 | World News.
Details
In the lush fields southwest of Paris, farmers are joining Europe’s struggle for independence from Russian gas.
They will soon open a crane at the new facility, where grain and agricultural waste are ground and fermented to produce “biogas”. This is one of the energy solutions that are advancing on the continent, where they want to stop financing the Russian war in Ukraine, no longer paying billions for Russian gas.
Small rural gas plants supply energy to thousands of neighboring homes, but are not going to – at least in the near future – displace huge flows of Russian gas to Europe, providing energy to large factories, businesses and homes.
However, biogas is part of the puzzle of how to reduce Europe’s energy dependence.
The European Biogas Association says the European Union could quickly increase production of biomethane pumped into the natural gas network. An investment of 83 billion euros would lead to a tenfold increase in biomethane production by 2030 and could replace about a fifth of what the bloc imported from Russia last year.
Farmers around the village of Sonsham in the Paris region believe their new gas plant will contribute to separating Europe from the Kremlin.
Biogas is obtained by fermenting organic materials – usually crops and waste. One farmer compared the process to food left in a container for too long. Gas from their plant could meet the needs of 2,000 homes.
As in the rest of Europe, biomethane production in France is still small. But it thrives. On average, almost three biomethane plants operate in France every week, and their number increased from 44 at the end of 2017 to 365 last year. The volume of gas produced by them for the national network in 2021 has almost doubled compared to the previous year and was enough for 362 thousand homes.
The French government has taken several steps to accelerate the development of biomethane since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The industry claims that biomethane has met almost 1% of France’s needs in 2021, but that figure will rise to at least 2% this year and could account for 20% of France’s gas consumption by 2030, more than France imported from Russia last year.
Source: Ukrgate
