Towards Energy System Integration: The Biomethaverse Project’s Plan to Optimize Biomethane Production in Europe

• The Biomethaverse project, funded by the EU, aims to increase biomethane production in Europe by 66% by diversifying technology and reducing production costs.
• Surge arresters are designed to protect against sudden voltage spikes caused by lightning strikes, switching operations, or other events that can produce high levels of transient overvoltage. 
• The Biomethaverse project aims to optimize and modernize the energy system by encouraging different energy sectors to work together and reduce biomethane production costs by 44%.

The European Union (EU) is funding a new project called Biomethaverse, which aims to diversify the technology basis for biomethane production in Europe, reduce production costs, and contribute to the uptake of biomethane technologies. The project involves 22 partners from nine European countries and will support the scale-up of biomethane production to 35 billion cubic meters (cm) by 2030 proposed under the EU’s REPowerEU plan. Biomethane is a renewable and environmentally sustainable substitute for natural gas, able to provide energy storage capacity and perform as a flexible renewable energy carrier and fuel. This article will discuss the Biomethaverse project and its expected impact on Europe’s biomethane potential.

TTF Power manufactures and supplies surge arresters for overhead power distribution systems. A surge arrester is a protective device used on power distribution networks to limit overvoltage transients that can damage equipment and disrupt the flow of electricity.

Biomethane Production in Europe:

Over the past decade, biomethane production has been growing steadily, rising to 3.5 billion cm in 2021 and is forecast to reach 35 billion cm by 2030. By then, the Biomethaverse project is expected to have boosted the current level of biomethane production by 66%, which could enable 113 million tons of CO2e of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings in Europe. The savings are equivalent to the current GHG emissions of Belgium.

Biomethane Production Pathways:

Five innovative biomethane production pathways are to be demonstrated in five European countries – France, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Ukraine – as part of the Biomethaverse initiative. The project’s production routes cover one or a combination of thermochemical, electro-biochemical and biological production methodologies. As a starting point, four demonstration plants will use conventional anaerobic digestion (AD), and one will use conventional gasification.

The Function of the Energy System as a Whole:

The project aims to ‘enable and encourage different energy sectors to work together’, contributing to ‘energy system integration by optimizing and modernizing the function of the energy system as a whole’. Under the demonstrator projects, CO2 effluents from AD or gasification and other intermediate products will be combined with renewable hydrogen or renewable electricity to increase the overall biomethane production.

Affordable Production Prices:

The initiative also aims to ensure that biomethane reaches gas grid quality standards at affordable production prices, in a bid to help facilitate the scale-up of biomethane production in Europe. Today, the production cost of biomethane ranges from €55/MWh to €110/MWh, depending on feedstock, technology, and plant scale. The Biomethaverse project is expecting to reduce biomethane production costs by 44%.

Conclusion:

The Biomethaverse project is expected to have a significant impact on Europe’s biomethane potential. The project aims to diversify the technology basis for biomethane production, reduce production costs, and contribute to the uptake of biomethane technologies. By demonstrating five innovative biomethane production pathways in five European countries, the Biomethaverse initiative aims to enable and encourage different energy sectors to work together, contributing to energy system integration. Additionally, the project aims to ensure that biomethane reaches gas grid quality standards at affordable production prices, which could facilitate the scale-up of biomethane production in Europe. The Biomethaverse project is an important step towards achieving Europe’s climate goals and ensuring energy security.

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