Alder Bioinsights News Review: Bioenergy Issue 150, September 2024

Foreword

In 2004 the Germany government introduced bioenergy support subsidies designed to last for 20 years. Although this subsidy is coming to an end the German Economy ministry has vowed to carry on supporting biogas plants. This will be achieved through the form of a ‘comprehensive biomass package’ which is expected to introduce new subsidy schemes or extend current ones. The German business newspaper, Handelsblatt, reports that the package will be especially beneficial during periods of reduced power production from wind turbines and solar panels. It is noteworthy that in the first half of 2024 alone, 15% of Germany’s renewable electricity generation came from biomass. By 2030, the government wants to have 80% of Germany’s electricity originating from renewable sources.

Suez, a French-based waste management company has recently partnered with the German high throughput experimentation company, Hte, to screen catalysts for the conversion of biomass-derived feedstocks into sustainable gases. The use of Hte’s proprietary technology of  experimental continuous flow reactors has successfully accelerated the screening of catalysts under challenging conditions for fermentation. The catalyst benchmarking step was coupled to subsequent biogas toxicity assessment to confirm the suitability of the technology for commercial deployment.

In Ukraine, Georgiy Geletukha, the Chairman of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, has shared that the country is planning to embark on 7 biomethane projects by the end of the year…