National Report on current status of biogas production – Italy WP5 – deliverables 5.1 

   

 

 

 

 

The sole responsibility for the content of this material lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. 

Co‐financed by Intelligent Energy Europe programme within implementation of „GasHighWay“ project (IEE/08/545/SI2.528537) 

 

 

Content 

1.  Report on current status and potential for sustainable biogas production (combined heat and power production) ...................................................................................................................3 1.1 Biogas production......................................................................................................................3 

1.2 Biogas producers' profile ..........................................................................................................4 

1.3 Influence of the government ....................................................................................................5 

 

2.  Potential for sustainable biogas and biomethane production until 2020 ..................................7 2.1 Potential in the field of energy crops ........................................................................................7 

2.2 Potential of livestock effluents .................................................................................................8 

2.3 Regional differences..................................................................................................................9 

2.4 Trends in technologies.............................................................................................................10 

2.5 Trends in legal and financial conditions...................................................................................10 

 

3.  Upgrading potential ...............................................................................................................12 3.1 Legal conditions (law, technical, norms, subsidies).................................................................12 

3.2 Potential in biomethane production for transport (bioCNG/LNG) and injection to grid........13 

3.3 Importance for energy security...............................................................................................15 

 

4.  Impact of biomethane use for transport.................................................................................16 4.1 Influence on the biogas production potential.........................................................................16 

4.2 Economical and environmental aspects (including macro‐economical) on the national and regional level .................................................................................................................................18 

4.3 Greenhouse gas emissions ‐ possible changes.........................................................................19 

4.4 Effect on the energy system and its stakeholders ‐ policy and regulatory drivers and barriers for biomethane as fuel for transport.............................................................................................20 

 

5.   References.............................................................................................................................21  

 

 

 

1. Report  on  current  status  and  potential  for  sustainable  biogas production (combined heat and power production) 

1.1 Biogas Production

In the European Union the biogas production estimated for 2007 was about 5901.2 Ktoe (Kiloton of oil equivalent) with 50 % coming from urban waste tips [1]. In Italy biogas production in 2007 was estimated to 406.2 ktoe (about 4.7 TWh) with about 80 % coming from MSW landfills. In Italy 542 biogas plants (61 under construction) have been identified in 2009 by CRPA, of which :

235 plants producing biogas from livestock effluent in co-digestion with energy crops or agro-industrial waste: In figure 1 an analyses of the surveyed plants has been reported in accordance with the type of substrate processed

121 plants producing biogas from anaerobic digestion plant for the stabilization of municipal and industrial sewage sludge

14 plants producing biogas from organic fraction of municipal solid wastes in co-digestion with sewage sludge, partly resulting from the differentiated collection of urban waste and partly resulting from mechanical sorting

31 plants producing biogas from agro-industrial wastewater

141 plants from the recovery of biogas from MSW landfills

In 2008 GSE (Electricity Service Operators) qualified 360 plants (about 345 MWe), including 141 biogas plants from MSW landfills producing about 210 MWe.

 

 

As shown in table 1, most of the plants are in the northern regions (Lombardia, Emilia Romagna and Veneto) where there is highest concentration of livestock farms. On the other hand, a high number of biogas plants (15 %) is present in the province of Bolzano because of its proximity to Austria and Germany and provincial incentives to bio-energy.

Region Livestock effluent+organic wastes+energy crops

Sewage Sludge

Agro-industrial wastewater

Biowaste+sewage sludge Total

Lombardia 85 12 4 3 104

Emilia Romagna 30 21 7 1 59

Trentino Alto Adige 33 8 0 2 43

Veneto 30 11 10 5 56

Piemonte 26 21 0 1 48

Toscana 2 10 1 1 14

Puglia 1 11 1 0 13

Campania 2 5 3 0 10

Sardegna 7 0 0 1 8

Marche 2 7 0 0 9

Lazio 3 5 1 0 9

Liguria 0 5 0 0 5

Friuli Venezia Giulia 3 3 0 0 6

Umbria 3 2 0 0 5

Basilicata 3 0 1 0 4

Abruzzo 1 0 1 0 2

Valle d' Aosta 1 0 0 0 1

Calabria 3 0 0 0 3

Sicilia 0 0 2 0 2

Table 1 235 121 31 14 401

 1.2 Biogas producers’ profile

In 2009, a number of 723 biomass plants was registered for a total of 1491 MWe, including biogas plants, solid biomass plants and liquid biofuels plants. The two figures below report the percentage for each kind of biomass plants according with respectively electrical installed power and number of specific plants. The gap between the number of plants and the electic power revelas that in Italy a high number of biogas plants is present even if they are mostly small and medium-sized farm-scale. In particular, only the 9% on the total number of the biogas plants from livestock effluents censored in 2007 have installed electrical power of more than 1 MWe

Investors in biogas plants come from different sectors; they can operate in association in private limited company or as investors in bio-energy collective investment schemes. Moreover interest in biogas investment has recently risen among the major national energetic groups because of the good future prospective related to biogas potential.

 

 

 

 

1.3 Influence of the government

In Italy, till 2002, was in force the CIP6 Regime, introduced by Directive No. 6/1992, that established the incentives for electric energy produced from renewable sources.

On 2002, Italy started the implementation of a new support mechanism for renewable energy sources based on Green Certificates, replacing the CIP6 regime. Green certificates represent the environmental value of electric energy from renewable sources (wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, biomass and biofuels) applied to plant with a nominal capacity higher of 1 MW. The producers of energy from renewable sources don’t be allowed to sell the Green Certificates on the market, so the GSE (Eletric Services Manager) shall be obliged to purchase them at a price established every year by GME (Elettric Market Manager). Typically one certificates represents generation of 1 MWhe and are issued for each plant with production in a number equal to the net of electricity output multiplied by a parameter (Table 1) different on the basis of type of renewable sources.

 

 

The GC are in force for 15 years and the value of 88.66 €/MWh for 2009, is calculated as the difference between the reference value of 180 €/MWh (for the first year) and the annual average price for electricity sale of 91,34 €/MWh, defined by AEEG (Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas).

The implementation decree provided moreover a mechanism through which unsold green certificates in the market can be retired by GSE at the mean price of the previous 3 years.

Biomass Source Eurocents/kWh Coefficient

Wind 30 1.00

Wind offshore 1.10

Solar * *

Geothermal 20 0.90

Wave/Tidal 34 1.80

Hydro 22 1.00

Biodegradable wastes and biomass 22 1.10

Biomass and biogas produced from agriculture, animal raising and forest on short supply lines

30 1.80

Landfill gas and residual gas from water treatment processes and biogases other than previous item

18 0.80

Table 1

* For solar energy plant the provisions activated by Art. 7 of Legislative Decree 2003/387 apply.

GSE also provide to facilitate investors in the construction of new plants and in the access to the required financial resources, making arrangements with banking institution.

Nevertheless, the Italian budget law explicity forbid cumulating any kind of capital incentives and Green Certificates, meaning that if new plant (produced by 2008) acceded of any kind of capital incentives, it’s automatically excluded from GC regime: partial exception to this represent by plants with short chain biomass, whose construction can be supported up to 40% of the investment value.

An important and simplifying opportunity for small medium size biogas plants of nominal capacity lower than 1 MW is represented by the feed-in tariff that joins the value of the Green Certificate and the value of the selling price of electric energy.

 

 

The tariff depends on the renewable source, includes plants active after the 31 st December 2007 and is valid for 15 years. The tariff can be varied every three year by the Ministry of Economic Development by assuring the right remuneration in accordance with the development of renewable sources.

Since the tariff is applied only to the rate of energy directed introduced in the electric system, it is actually convenient to introduce the total amount of electric energy produced in the electric system.

The full tariff is equal to:

28 €ct/kWh for the biogas produced by agricultural wastes, breedings and forestal wastes regolamento CE n.73/2009.

18 €ct/kWh for biogas from waste disposals and from depuration processes and the biogas other than the one described in the previous point.

 

2. Potential for sustainable biogas and biomethane production until 

2020 2.1 Potential in the field of energy crops

In Italy, biogas is mainly used to produced electricity and heat, as in the EU. Most of biogas produced is obtained from organic wastes in landfills (for which there is the obligation to capture the gas emitted), from anaerobic digestion of crops and agro-industrial waste, and for a small part by sludges and animal wastes.

In particular Eurobserv’er estimate a potentiality of 20 TWh/year of electric energy from biogas plant (2700 Mwe).

In the table below the potentiality of different type of biomass in Italy expressed as ton/a is represented.

Energy crops 13.000.000 ton/a

Animal waste 180.000.000 ton/a

MSW landfills 11.000.000 ton/a

slaughter wastes 2.000.000 ton/a

Anaerobic digested sludge 2-3.000.000 ton/a

Agro-industrial wastes 12.000.000 ton/a

Biomass wastes 10.000.000 tonTS /a

Table 2 Potential of different type of biomass in Italy

 

 

2.2 Potential of livestock effluents

The Decree of 7 April 2006 regulates art. 38 of the Legislative Decree No 152 of 11 May 1999 concerning the norms relative to the agronomic use of livestock effluents. These are defined as those which can be collected using a shovel and those not: the first ones are essentially manure (bedding waste) and the second ones are sewage (waste without bedding). While manure, being of good agronomic quality, is mainly used as fertilizer, sewage having greater nutritional quality and produced in greater quantity, by virtue of its liquid form, often does not represent a resource but rather a waste which is difficult to dispose of, thus creating serious environmental problems above all on agricultural land defined ‘‘areas vulnerable to nitrates of agricultural origin’’, that is, those land areas where more than 170 kg/ha of nitrogen cannot be used (Legislative Decree No 152 of 2006). To avoid the contamination of soil and groundwater, the solution would be to use this effluent as a raw material to produce biogas, concerning both the specific requirements of animal by-products to be transformed and the relative biogas plants. In this last case, a series of advantages would be reached: a decrease in problems connected to disposal and, therefore, the risk of polluting soil and air, the production of an excellent soil conditioner as a resultant by-product and an increase in the quantity of energy deriving from renewable source.

In light of this, the Italian potentiality of biogas from sewage, deriving from intensive breeding (cattle, swine and poultry) on national territory was calculated, included in the census of ISTAT (The National Institute for Statistics) of December 2004. The effluents of sheep and goats has not been taken into account in that.

Type of livestock Number

Cattle 6 304 601

Swine 8 971 783

Poultry 172 978 729

Table 3 Head of livestock in Italy (December, 2004)

After having calculated the sewage volume per year by applying a zootechincal model, biogas potential was evaluated, considering the average yields obtained from the anaerobic digestion process of organic matter, contained in the effluents.

The total amount of sewage produced by cattle was more than 68 million of m3/year, mainly deriving from adult animals (dairy cattle); almost 38 million of m3/year by swine and almost 7 million of m3/year by poultry. Based on the previously determined conversion indexes, producible biogas from cattle is equal to 1.0 Gm3/ year, 0.6 Gm3/year from swine and to 0.3 Gm3/year from poultry.

Thus, the electricity coming from animal breeding sewage would be equal to 3.6 TWh/year that means about 1.2% of the total consumption registered in 2005 and 7.2% of the

 

 

production of renewable resources. Compared to the real quantity produced, equal to only 26 GWh, the enormous potential as yet unexploited is evident.

This value is triple of the electricity produced in Italy from biogas, coming from all the raw materials from which it can be obtained (1.2 TWh). The quantity of heat, on the contrary,would be more than 7 TWh/ year, corresponding to roughly 29 000 TJ/year, 21% of the total production from renewable sources in 2005. Considering the economic obstacles of heat transmission, this quantity is used in the same breeding farm.

It is clear that these values in themselves represent a maximum quantity which is highly unlikely to come about, since, as known, the biogas yields can vary in proportion to techniques used both in the project phase and in that of digestion, to the types of subsoil (only zootechnical effluents or vegetable material mixtures) and to the ways of feeding both micro-organisms and livestock. To these, the logistic difficulties of finding raw material and all the legislative and economic problems must also be added which today hinder the wide scale spread of such plants.

2.3 Regional differences

Despite the technical, economical and legislative barriers to the development of biogas production, positive signals come from the Northern Italy (Lombardia, Emilia Romagna and Piemonte), affected by the presence of several intensive breeding farms. The respective regional bodies have, indeed, allocated some financing (capital expenditure) in favour of the single agricultural farms or the associated ones, the cooperatives and the consortium among private citizens, to produce biogas from field and from breeding.

In particular a study led by Regione Piemonte has brought to an evaluation of the potential of biogas production form livestock effluents (cattle and swine). The results are reported in the table below:

A total of 1 300 000 m3 of biogas/day can be produced only from livestock effluents that could result in a total biomethane production of 237 000 000 m3/year which is about 10 times more than the actual need of methane used for transports.

 

 

2.4 Trends in technologies

The majority of biogas plants in Italy is small size and located on the zootechnical farms: they are simplified, low cost systems. The biogas collected is pumped to an engine which produces electricity. Over the last 3 years, interest has been shown towards the co-digestion of breeding farm effluents with energy crops.

Recent technologies in the development of biogas plants are focused on:

The improvement of feeding system

The improvement of mixing system

The improvement of inlet biomass characteristics by mechanical pretreatment

Increasing of effective working hours in a year (from 5500-6000 hours/year to the maximum of 8760 in a year).

2.5 Trends in legal and financial conditions

The delay on the part of Italy, when compared to other European nations is therefore questioned: the cause is not related to a question of resources and it is essentially connected to understand economic and legislative barriers. administrative processes which are unnecessarily complicated and disorganised, above all for small-size plants, which concern the issue of a series of authorizations and feasibility studies both in the creative phase of a proposed project and,

 

 

thereafter, in its preparation and realisation. In addition, on a local level, there is a lack of pre-planning of the designated areas where the biogas plants are to be built. Lastly, the national regulation, relative to incentives for the development of renewable resources, is still too sketchy and inadequate, when compared to those of other European countries, for example Germany.

One of the main limit lies in the legal impossibility of cumulating any kind of capital incentives and Green Certificates, meaning that if new plant (produced by 2008) acceded of any kind of capital incentives, it’s automatically excluded from GC regime: partial exception to this is represented by plants with short chain biomass, whose construction can be supported up to 40% of the investment value.

Moreover the authorization procedures for building new plants, the initial investments cost, the complicated authorization to connect the biogas plant to the public electricity network and no clear national policy about the Green Certificate issue, don’t’allow biogas potential to express itself. In many cases the biogas plants are built too far from the village and heat generated in CHPs is not sufficiently valorized; moreover, farmers need to have hectares of land for obligatory spreading of the digested sewage obtained, which often influences the size of the plants (max 150–200 kWh).

All these factors influence the decisions related to the installation of an anaerobic digester, above all, among the high costs to be faced privately by small and medium-sized zootechnical farmers.

A trend in simplifying the legal procedure for biogas plant construction is represented by Starting Building Activity Declaration which is the only needed authorization for biogas plants up to 200 kW.

 

 

3. Upgrading potential 3.1 Legal conditions (law, technical norms, subsidies)

The production of biogas as a sustainable alternative for methane fuel is getting large consideration in Italy. One of the possibilities, in addiction to the power generation sector, is the upgrading of biogas to the to the quality of natural gas for a subsequent injection into the grid.

All of the biogas plants in Italy that are in the preparation or construction phase could be equipped with possibilities to produce a biogas that is upgraded to natural gas quality, either for direct use as vehicle fuel or for injection into the natural gas grid.

Italian government policy is promoting the growth of biogas industry even if, at this stage, the existence of several and unrelated legal and technical norms is a disincentive for the industry stakeholders.

For example, regarding the use of the biogas for the energy sector, Italy established new legal conditions in summer 2009, under which the government aims to cover 25% of the country’s electricity consumption from renewable energies by the year 2020. The feed-in tariff for biogas has been fixed at 28 cents per kWh. Unfortunately, regarding the use of the biogas for transport, the situation is not so clear, legal conditions are still undefined and new tools for the development of the biogas as an alternative fuels must be developed regarding to:

Law

Taxation

Incentives

Excise reduction

Fuel distribution and introduction into the grid from a local/regional to a National regulation system

special benefits for Biogas vehicles (i.e.: free parking, exemption from city gate tolls, special lanes for biogas taxis, Financial support for investment in biogas vehicles, etc.).

It is thus important that the Italian Government gains maturity in relation to the use of financial incentives and legal regulations, to support the biogas emerging market.

Regulations currently being drawn up in Italy concern incentives for methane-fuelled vehicles which represent an important opportunity for the development of the use of biomethane for transport. For example, in order to protect the environment, reduce CO2 emissions and to encourage the auto market, the Italian government has approved several eco-incentives which promote the use of methane powered vehicles and, at the same time, could boost the growth of the use of biomethane for transport.

The package of anti-crisis measures enacted in 2009 (decree-law 10/02/09, n.5) in support of industrial sectors in crisis is characterized by a strong environmental motivation with incentives for the introduction of vehicles with a low environmental impact and the scrapping of old vehicles. The environmental benefits, appraised in relation to the expected replacement of 460,000 vehicles in 2009 (Euro 0/1/2 with Euro 4/5) include:

 

 

CO2 emissions: -30%

Hazardous emissions (PM, NOx, HC): -40%

In practice, incentives work as discounts that the costumer receives directly from the car dealer who will then recover the sum by a tax credit. Below is a summary of the incentives scheme as planned in the package of anti-crisis measures:

2nd package of anti-crisis measures (decree-law 10/02/09, n.5)

Incentives for buying cars

A bonus of € 1,500 for the purchase of a Euro 4-5 car (below 130 gCO2/Km if Diesel, below 140 gCO2/Km if gas) with contemporary scrapping of an old vehicle (more than 10 years).

A bonus of €1,500 for the purchase of an ecologic car (methane/electric/hydrogen) without scrapping. In case of scrapping incentives are cumulated (€3,000). Ecologic cars with particularly low CO2 emissions can reach a bonus of € 3.500.

Incentives for buying light commercial vehicles

A bonus of € 2,500 for the purchase of new vehicles with the contemporary scrapping of Euro 0-1-2 vehicles.

Incentives up to € 4,000 for the purchase (without scrapping) of innovative new vehicles (methane/electric/hydrogen).

Incentives can be cumulated with scrapping.

Incentives for the conversion to LPG/Methane

The State contribution for transforming gas engine cars towards lower-environmental impact cars increases from 350 to 500 € (for LPG) and from 500 to 600 € for methane.

http://www.minambiente.it

As we can see from the table above, in Italy the potentiality for the biomethane production for transport are high, considering the strong incentives scheme for vehicles with a low environmental impact such as biomethane powered vehicles.

3.2. Potential in biomethan production for transport (bioCNG/LNG) and for injection to grid

Despite the highest number within Europe of gas powered vehicles (650,000) as well the most extended gas distribution grid, Italy is not a leader in the upgrading and use of biomethane for transport. No biomethane vehicles, such as private cars or public buses are running at the moment except from a small number of pilot cases (i.e. waste collection heavy duty vehicles

 

 

powered with biomethane in Rome within the Biogasmax project - http://www.biogasmax.co.uk/biogas-biofuel-roma/biogas-biofuel.html).

However, the methane grid in Italy is very well developed and with a great and capillary diffusion on the territory from north to south and west to east with a high concentration in the north flat area (Pianura Padana area). The Biomethane would represent an important chance to combine waste management solutions with the production and use of a clean burning, low carbon transport fuel.

The potential of the use of biomethane for transport is boosted also by some encouraging technical reasons. For example, biomethane as vehicle fuel requires the same engine and vehicle configuration as natural gas, which means that the vehicle arrangement is not a problem for use of biogas as vehicle fuel.

In addiction, environmental benefits of biomethane compare to Petrol and Diesel are relevant and they also represent an important factor in terms of potentiality of biomethane production for transport.

For example, due to the very simple methane molecule, emissions of benzene, benzopyrene, Polycycilicaromatic hydrocarbons and particulates emissions are negligible, global emission of CO2 are insignificant, and a heavy reduction of nitrogen oxides is possible.

All this has produced a strong increase in demand and gas technologies with the consequence of a high potential for a biomethane development as a transport fuel mainly because upgraded biogas has the same advantages as natural gas but is in addition a clean technology which can create a very positive climate for a good development of the biogas vehicle sector.

Biomethane potentiality is also confirmed by the fact that nowadays in Italy:

over 420.000 car drivers run already on Natural Gas, refilling at more than 650 stations.

about 50 Italian towns run 2.100 Natural Gas urban buses.

NG vehicles do not suffer traffic restrictions in Italian cities

NG vehicles can park everywhere, also underground.

The high potentiality of biomethane for transport and for the injection into the grid, is also boosted by the fact that this fuel is a sustainable fuel that can be manufactured from local resources. Production of biogas is a developed technology that is well established in many European countries and the biogas potential is considerable, especially when taking into account the possibilities to use set aside land for production of crops for biogas.

According to a research made in 2008 by Sergio Piccinini from CRPA (Research Centre on Animal Production, Reggio Emilia, Italy), “Italian biogas production is growing both in terms of the construction of new plant as well in terms of the creation of new companies and new entrepreneurial environments interested in making complete plant or the components needed to build them. In October 2007 the census of anaerobic digestion plant carried out by CRPA found 185 plant operating with animal husbandry effluents, energy crops, organic residues, agro-industrial residues and organic urban garbage. Almost all are located in the North, above all in

 

 

Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Alto Adige”. The census concluded that, “despite the limited facilities compared to other countries, Italian biogas production is now expanding strongly”, with the consequence of concrete potentiality for biomethane to run vehicles and be pumped into the natural gas supply grid.

3. 3. Importance for energy security

Security of energy supply is an increasing global concern, mainly following recent rising oil prices and doubts about the dependence on imports from less politically stable areas. With respect to the Italian situation, according to the Eurostat energy statistics 2009, the Italian energy sector is highly dependent on imported oil and gas, and consequently the energy security is an important and strategic issue.

Fossil fuels accounted for 91% of gross inland consumption in 2006, while Renewable energies (mainly from hydropower, biomass, geothermal, and biodiesel for transport) have been making increasing contributions in recent years. Final demand is dominated by transport, with 34%, followed by industry and households, with 29% and 23%, respectively.

With respect to the road transport sector in particular, the final energy consumption in Italy in 2006 is 39.022.000 TOE of which 38.448.000 of petroleum products, 413.000 TOE of Natural Gas and 161.000 TOE of Renewable sources as summarized in the table above:

 

 

It results clear that the substitution with biogas of petroleum fuels and the usage of a renewable energy sources such as biomethane, make the supply of energy for transport more secure and can therefore tackle the issue of energy security for the transport sector.

4.  Impact of biomethane use for transport 4.1 Influence on the biogas production potential

Biogas is an alternative fuel that in Italy, at this stage, has been mainly developed as a fuel suitable for electricity generation in gas engines. Biogas can be easily used in vehicle engines and there are today many cases across Europe where vehicles are already running on biogas (Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Switzerland).

The potential of biogas as a vehicle fuel, is also boosted by the fact the Italy has seen a rise in the natural gas vehicles numbers in the past couple of years. Natural gas vehicle statistics for Italy say that an increasing number of cars run on natural gas and this is mainly due to:

clear decision by the main car manufacturers to go into the NGV business

clear and well established system of incentives for methane fuelled vehicles.

raise of the price of fossil fuels has made gaseous fuels more attractive

Considering that biogas can be collected in many different ways, it’s possible to say that the potential of the Italian biogas production is so large that it could replace 12 to 20 % of the natural gas consumption. Potentially, all kinds of organic matter can be converted into biogas:

biogas can be collected directly in landfill waste disposal centers

effluents can be methanised in waste treatment plants

liquid manure, agricultural waste and energy crops can be methanised in biogas or codigestion units

 

 

Solid household and “green” waste can be converted into biogas in large plants for methanisation of solid waste

The large availability of different kind of feedstock, has stimulated Italian biogas production (mainly used in combined heat and power CHP engines) which in 2007, according to EurObserv’ER statistics, has reached 406,2 KTOE, a 6 % increase in relation to 2006:

The increase of biogas production in Italy has been mainly due to the use of this source for electricity generation produced by cogeneration but, due to the increase in the price of natural gas, a growing number of stakeholders are now interested in producing biomethane in order to inject it into their natural gas networks or to use it as fuel for gas-powered vehicles.

Finally, a great impact of biomethane use for transport can be brought by the final conclusion concerning the EU proposal for average mandatory CO2 emission limits for passenger cars of 130 g/km from 2012.

This will force the car manufacturers, in Europe as well as in Italy, to introduce a variety of measures to limit CO2 emissions.

 

 

The legislation will encourage increased sales of natural gas vehicles and, all the more so, the biomethane as a carbon neutral fuel, together with an appropriate refueling infrastructure.

4.2 Economical and environmental aspects (including macro-economical) on the national and regional level

Many drivers are behind the decision to undertake a biogas project. Some of the drivers behind this are the increasing regulation and taxes on waste disposal, a greater than ever need for alternative fuel sources, strong measures to get better local air quality, the need for clean air in urban areas, the EC’s Biofuels Directive, etc.

The development of the biogas production from an economical point of view is more a strategic question than a question of research and development. Setting up a biogas project on a national or regional level needs a planned alliance between the stakeholders of the project (politics, producers, and distributors). A mix of economic, environmental and strategic factors plays a role in the choice for biomethane production and use for transport.

Economical aspects on the national as well on the regional point of view to be considered are:

1. Resource Availability:

biogas can be produced by the anaerobic digestion of a various kinds of organic feedstock such as sewage sludge, wet manure slurries from agriculture, manures from animals, waste from food processing, organic waste from restaurants and other commercial operations, energy crops, etc.

2. Production technology:

Pre-treatments to get the materials digested into a suitable form, digestion processes and choice of the type of digester. The investment costs of an anaerobic digester are high and consequently a significant level of investment must be considered. Capital costs are dependent on site-specific factors (plant size, location type of feedstock, type digestion process).

3. Gas Potential:

The gas produced by anaerobic digestion depends both on the feedstock being used and the efficiency of the digestion process.

4. Gas upgrading:

Gas has to be upgraded to natural gas quality in order to be used in normal vehicles. Is possible to upgrade biogas with high reliability and at reasonable cost, depends very much on the plant size considering also that the electricity demand for upgrading corresponds to 3-6% of the energy content in the upgraded gas.

5. infrastructure costs associated with delivery of the biogas fuel to refuelling stations:

Infrastructure costs for delivery and selling of compressed biogas at filling stations for road transport operators are likely to be similar to those for compressed natural gas.

 

 

6. Biogas injection in the local natural gas grid

The grid situation in a specific area must be analyzed. The producer of gas who wants to inject the gas into the local natural gas pipeline system, has to find specific agreement with the grid operator and looking into the possibilities to construct a pipeline and injection station to connect the producer to the grid.

4.3 Greenhouse gas emissions – possible changes

According to the 2009 United Nation statistics on greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 emissions for Italy in 2006 were:

CO2 Emissions

[mio. Ton]

% change since 1990

[%]

CO2 emissions per capita

[Ton.]

CO2 emissions per Km2

[Ton.]

488.04 12.2 8.30 1 619.58

On the other hand, the share of CHG by main sources according to the European Environment Agency report -“Greenhouse gas emission trends and projections in Europe 2008” are summarized in the following table:

From the figure above, it’s possible to say that the transport sector in Italy is responsible for the 23,5% of the total amount of greenhouse emissions.

Biomethane offers the best well to wheel carbon saving of all vehicle fuels:

the production of biomethane reduces global warming, because it is produced in a closed system using waste products that if not would turn into natural methane sources released liberally into the atmosphere

the use of biomethane as a vehicle fuel not contributes to the greenhouse effect

 

 

Indirectly reduces CO2 emissions by offsetting the use of non-renewable resources

Biomethane fuelled vehicles have extremely low emissions of local pollutants, including NOx and particulates when compared to petrol and diesel vehicles. Substitution of diesel and petrol vehicles with biomethane would have a beneficial effect on air quality

4.4 Effect on the energy system and its stockholders- policy and regulatory drivers and barriers for biomethane as fuel for transport.

Italy is one of the most energy intensive industrialized countries in the world, with a strong reliance on the import of energy carriers. Although robust increase in the renewable energy sector such as wind, biogas and biodiesel, Italy is distant from the targets set at both the national and European level due to a number of aspects which play a role to this situation. First of all, there is a large component of insecurity due to ambiguities in current policy design. Next, there are bureaucratic limitations such as difficult authorization procedures at local level as well as financial barriers such as high grid connection costs.

One of the energy policy instruments applied in Italy is the tradable green certificates system in which each producer and importer are motivated to increase its production and use of renewable energy in electricity, heating and cooling and transport.

This renewable energy incentive is the government's key instrument to push sales of renewable electricity, in line with the EU common energy policy aimed to reduce the effects of climate change through binding targets to increase the share of renewable energy. By 2020 renewable energy should account for 20% of the EU's final energy consumption (Italian target = 17%).

The effect of biomethane on the energy system is relevant and it can definitely help for the achievement of the Italian renewable energy targets even if the really high potential for biogas production, must face some policy barriers such as:

complicated authorization procedures for building new plants

complex authorization procedures to connect the plant to the public electricity network

no clear national policy about biofuel issues

no incentives for biomethane production for farmers in Italy.

no national policy framework exists that supports biomethane for transport. Subsidies are already in place for bioethanol production and tax exemptions for biodiesel production but not for biomethane as well.

Despite the above mentioned barriers, a growing interest in biomethane for transport is involving many Italian stakeholders mainly attracted by the relatively easiness of biomethane production, the high efficiency of biogas feedstock (yielding more than twice as much energy per area of energy crops than ethanol from similar crops), the large variety of biomass resources usable (e.g., organic waste, manure, dedicated energy crops); and the always more advances in biogas technology, microbiology and crop engineering for more efficient production.

 

 

5. References • Renewable Energy Policy Review, ITALY

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• Biogas production and market development through local and regional partnerships, BIOGAS REGION

• Piccinini, The case of Italy, discussion workshop, 2008

• State of the art of biogas in Italy, S. Piccinini, 2008

• Falcucci, Three Years of Italian Green Certificates: a First Assessment, GRTN, 2005

• Energia elettrica prodotta da biomasse: la situazione italiana attuale ed i nuovi incentive previsti per lo sviluppo delle fonti energetiche rinnovabili, G. Candiolo, Agronomica, 2008

• Watson, Farley and Williams, Green Certificates regime as amended by Budget Law 2008, Jenuary 2008

• C. Tricase, M. Lombardi, State of the art and prospects of Italian biogas production from animal sewage: Technical-economic considerations, Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 477–485

• Candolo, Energia elettrica prodotta da biomasse: la situazione italian attuale ed i nuovi incentivi previsti per lo sviluppo delle fonti energetiche rinnovabili, Agronomica 2/2008

• Brumati, Il contributo del settore agricolo alla produzione di biometano, Regional Workshop January 2010

• Biogas as a vehicle fuel – A European Overview. Trendsetter Report No 2003:3

• Decision Makers’ Guide. how to implement a biomethane project. Biogasmax project.

• DG TREN 2008 – Italy Renewable Energy Fact Sheet

• EurObserv'ER - biofuels barometer 2009

• EurObserv'ER - Biogas barometer 2008

• Eurostat - panorama of energy

• Biogas as a transport Fuel. June 2006 NSCA

• Sergio Piccinini CRPA (Research Centre on Animal Production) - biogas situation in Italia

• IEA Task 24 Report - Biogas upgrading and utilization

• www.fiper.it

• A biogas Road Map for Europe, AEBIOM European Biomass Association, October 2009