The biomethane injection into the natural gas networks: The EU's gas synergy path

Abstract

Biomethane is one of the most promising renewable gases (hereafter - RG) - a flexible and easily storable fuel, and, when used along with the natural gas in any mixing proportion, no adjustments on equipment designed to use natural gas are required. In regions where natural gas grids already exist, there is a system suitable for distribution of the biomethane as well. Moreover, improving energy efficiency and sustainability of the gas infrastructure, it can be used as total substitute for natural gas. Since it has the same chemical properties as natural gas, with methane content level greater than 96 %, biomethane is suitable both for heat and electricity generation, and the use in transport. Biomethane is injected into the natural gas networks of many Member States of the European Union (hereafter - the EU) on a regular basis for more than a decade, with the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Sweden and France being among pioneers in this field. In most early cases, permission to inject biomethane into the natural gas grids came as part of a policy to decarbonize the road transport sector and was granted on a case-by-case basis. The intention to legally frame and standardise the EU's biomethane injection into the natural gas networks came much later and was fulfilled in the second half of the present decade. This paper addresses the biomethane injection into the natural gas grids in some EU countries, highlights a few crucial aspects in this process, including but not limited to trends in standardisation and legal framework, injection conditions and pressure levels, as well as centralised biogas feedstock collection points and the biomethane injection facilities. In a wider context, the paper deals with the role of biomethane in the EU energy transition and further use of the existing natural gas networks.