Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of time, usually 10-20 years. This combination enables predictable long-
term planning for private investors and therefore can trigger huge
investments without further public funds. The costs for payment of the
(higher) price are spread among all energy consumers; this is administered
by grid operators. Thus, government involvement in the process is kept at a
minimum level. The legislative authority can tailor support schemes of this
type to explicitly set the focus of promotion. The role model for minimum
pricing support schemes is the German EEG, a law for the promotion of
renewable energies in the electric power grid. Similar laws for the promotion
of renewable energies have been implemented in more than 60 countries
worldwide in a similar form (BMU, 2011; REN21, 2011). Regarding power
from biomass, the German EEG explicitly supports smaller production
facilities, the use of certain types of feedstock (energy crops, slurry, organic
waste) and, of course, upgrading and feed-in of biomethane.
In contrast, quota obligations (or 'renewable portfolio standards') define
a minimum quota to be fulfilled by renewable energies (here, biomethane).
The most famous example of quota obligations is the Biofuels Quota Act
issued by the EU, which has been implemented in Member States. Another
example is the German EEWa¨ rmeG. Quota obligations promote the most
cost-effective technology. Feed-in tariff schemes can be very effective in
promoting a market and developing technologies on a broad level. Both
approaches (feed-in tariffs and quota obligations) have their pros and cons,
qualifying them to coexist (REN21, 2011).
The European motor fuel quota obligation from directive 2009/28/EC
defines a European certification standard: biomethane can be used in NGVs
as biofuel. For this, biomethane needs to comply with the sustainability
criteria of the directive (which includes greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of
60% for facilities built post-2018 as compared to the displaced fossil fuel on
a whole cycle life basis). The law was actually designed for liquid fuels; for
the particular case of biomethane, questions remained open. The specified
mass balancing method was defined for transporting sustainable fuels inside
ships or trucks with clear boundaries. In the case of transport through the
gas grid, these boundaries could not be easily defined. The view seems to
have become accepted, that the whole gas grid is regarded as the 'tanker'.
With this approach, application of biomethane is also possible as
international trade, as noted earlier.
In contrast to this EU directive, other government support schemes in
Europe vary significantly. These variations occur due to different
infrastructure and raw material bases as well as diverse political frameworks
and goals. For example, as already mentioned, the Netherlands have
established a well-developed heat market for eco-friendly green gas.
Germany, Austria and Slovakia have established feed-in tariffs
for
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