Europe's biogas industry grew and production increased in 2013 despite the noted stagnation, the European Biogas Association announced on Tuesday in its press release.
“The combined amount of electrical and thermal energy produced today from biogas in Europe corresponds to the annual consumption of the combined households of Belgium and Slovenia. Such production could replace 15 coal power plants with an average capacity of 500 MWel,” according to the Biogas Report 2013.
Biogas is produced from any organic matter, which is then broken down by anaerobic digestion. The raw material source can come from crops like maize, household waste; residue from the agriculture and food industry, animal manure and sewage sludge. It is produced naturally in landfills.
However, the association underlined that in some of the biggest biogas contributors like Germany and Italy, stagnation was observed. Moreover, the rest of the Europe is not giving positive signals towards the production of biogas as there have been some changes in the support schemes promoting this industry, the statement read.
Jan Stambasky, the president of the European Biogas Association spoke about the obstacles which hamper the member countries of the association.
“The biogas industry is facing tremendous policy changes, and it is our responsibility to provide you with the most reliable data to support our member associations to do political work in your home countries, to support our scientists in their research on new technologies, and to support our companies with updated information,' said Stambasky in the press release.
The EBA Biogas Report revealed that there are already more than 14,500 biogas plants in Europe and the numbers are still increasing.
An increase of 18 percent was seen in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland while the figures reveal that the U.K., France and Sweden have been developing steadily over several years, according to the report.
By Nuran Erkul
Anadolu Agency
nuran.erkul@aa.com.tr