Biogas is increasingly being used across Europe, but significant hindrances still stand in the way of the promotion of this important renewable energy carrier in many countries. This causes backlashes in biogas technology diffusion. Biogas application promoters thus urgently need to tackle the issue of public acceptance. A recent European project is now developing tools to support biogas acceptance in this context on a regional and national level.

1 - Introduction

Biogas production is already widespread and is continuously growing. The UK and Germany are by far the largest producers of biogas in Europe [1]. As a result, the two countries together represented almost 70 % of the total biogas production in Europe (Table 1). In the agricultural biogas production sector, however, Germany and Austria are currently the European leaders in utilising agricultural wastes for biogas production.

Landfill biogas is still the main source (49.2%of biogas energy) in Europe. “Other sources” (35.7%) come second - these are mainly agricultural biogas units and also biogas from waste treatment plants accounting for 15.0% of biogas energy. The agricultural biogas plants are currently the real driving force in the growth of European biogas production within the European Union. The specific feature of this sector is that it is increasingly based on the development of energy crops (maize, etc.) specifically intended for this use.

Germany in particular has witnessed an impressive biogas development since 2002, largely due to favourable feed-in tariffs paid for the production of electricity from biogas. In general terms it can be said that both biogas production and utilization depends upon the domestic legislation in the European countries.

The countries where the development has been most substantial have also encouraged this development through for example the EEG-law [2] in Germany (the law sets the basic conditions on which the feed-in tariffs for electricity produced from electricity are based) and the ROCs [3] in the UK (ROC is the name of the certificates that the electricity distributors need to acquire, which in turn promotes the production of electricity from RES).

Agricultural biogas production is the driving force of biogas growth in Europe (Tab.1). The market development is related to the use of energy crops that provide the basis for production. Growth potential is very high as a result, particularly in Europe’s leading agricultural countries (notably France, Poland and Hungary). The large-scale use of energy crops, however, also poses the same environmental questions as for biofuel production. The same fundamental necessity remains of striking a balance between the need to produce large quantities of renewable energy and the consideration of environmental constraints. On the other side of the coin, the major increase in agricultural raw materials prices last year could represent a limitation to prospects for growth in agricultural biogas production [1].

Energy carriers play a key role in influencing international politics and they also have a significant effect on the competitiveness of national economic systems. Since oil and natural gas prices are continuing to rise, it is now even more important to look for technologies to be implemented for reducing the dependency from traditional carbon fossils. As a result of this situation a growing number of countries are now interested in new applications for the biogas sector, specifically the production of biomethane in order to inject it into their natural gas networks or to use it as fuel for gas-powered vehicles [4]. The conclusive example of the countries of Northern Europe (particularly Sweden), together with increasingly efficient biogas upgrading technology, is encouraging more and more countries to develop these new applications.

Table 1: Primary energy production of biogas in the European Union in 2006 and 2007 (in ktoe) [1]

The table above shows that nations across Europe have already experienced the promise of success in the application of these technologies and expanding markets. On the other hand, the present market volume is still very low in many countries, despite the existence of the resources that are needed. Market growth for biogas applications is severely hampered by the presence of non-technical barriers, including administrative and regulatory barriers as well as financing obstacles. The decentralised access to biogas resources needs a decentralised integration into applications and fit to regional and local market demands. It is at this point that the issue of “acceptance” comes into consideration.

2 - Acceptance for Biogas Utilisation

The notion of “acceptance” covers the demands that occur on different stages of the supply and utilisation chain. Acceptance may be regarded at the level of

• Production of raw materials (animal excreta, energy crops, municipal and industrial wastes)
• Biogas plant operation (agricultural, municipal) within the nearby surrounding
• Intermediate trade and distribution by energy providers and service utilities
• Consumption of heat, electricity, gas out of the grid, vehicle fuels

Acceptance is the positive attitude of a customer to a product or a service. Many current studies are concerned with acceptance, see for example the IFMO Study for acceptance of hydrogen powered vehicles, and important dimensions of acceptance have been derived from studies of this kind [5, 6].

Whilst acceptance is important at all levels of production and utilisation, strong market forces will always arise from the demand side: end-users who are aware of ecological benefits, do not want to rely solely on fossil fuels and have an interest in becoming independent of energy imports, they are interested in a local energy supply, local value creation and value added chains, technology development and employment – moreover they are to some extent willing to pay a price for these benefits. Acceptance along the processing chain will include other factors such as secure incomes; these factors may be met, when the demand side drivers are strong enough. From a systemic point of view, it will be possible to include stakeholders’ and producers’ perspectives in a general acceptance concept.

Biogas projects often lack acceptance in the vicinity. In order to increase acceptance, it should be known which issues are to be addressed. This can be found out by questioning and integrating consumers, neighbours and local politicians, plant operators such as farmers, organic waste management experts, biogas equipment designers and producers and local energy suppliers.

3 An acceptance tool for energy crops

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) financed a project on the acceptance of agricultural biogas for heating purposes. The project analysed three factors, which are crucial for successful realization of biogas plants: The availability of raw materials, the quality of these materials as a source for biogas production, and the acceptance of the biogas plant in the neighbourhood. With respect to energy crops quality, 14 crops have been studied, as well as crop rotation (environmentally friendly or intense), and criteria like storage, transport, processing and methane yield. The availability issue concentrated on agricultural production regions, the expectations for crop yields and a rivalry assessment (crops used for animal feeding versus energy production).

One of the projects’ core elements has been the construction, testing and on-line implementation of an acceptance tool. Target groups for this tool were farmers and promoters of agricultural biogas plants. The tool helps them to understand, what are critical issues concerning the acceptance of their biogas plant in the near surrounding. As a result, they get recommendations on how to improve the acceptance of their project. These recommendations depend on the acceptance profile being analysed. The tool derives that profile, when it is charged with data, responses to a questionnaire action in the proximity of the proposed plant. The tool is on-line and accessible under www.biogasakzeptanz.at.

The tool was tested in a small community in Upper Austria. A farmer has built a small-scale biogas plant (100 kWel) near the centre of the municipality, and during the phase of construction, he was interested to know the acceptance of the plant by his neighbours. He received 41 (from 60) filled-in questionnaires from the nearest vicinity. The results of this questionnaire were presented in a public presentation on invitation of the mayor at the municipal office (Fig. I).

At this event it was possible to disseminate basic information about biogas technology, the planned project, and results of the local acceptance study. 70 persons attended the evening.

3 - The European project “BiogasAccepted”

The promising results in Austria played their part in encouraging the setup of a European project, focussing on the promotion of regionally produced biogas for local applications. The project “Biogas Accepted” aims to transfer the process that has shown to be useful in Austria into high potential regions of other European countries. The objective of BiogasAccepted is to support biogas applications that are warmly welcomed by regional actors and consumers. The action builds confidence in new market areas and for the diffusion of biogas applications.

In practice, BiogasAccepted creates tools for increasing biogas acceptance for various purposes, such as heating or cooling, providing electricity, fuelling vehicles, introducing biogas into the natural gas grid. An interactive process is being introduced, supported by questionnaires, evaluation, local public presentations and communication. A number of case applications in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Spain are being supported. Regional round tables derive recommendations for strengthening provincial markets and for creating policies for biogas application.

Key products of BiogasAccepted

• Questionnaire tool, online, with manuals, addressing neighbours of a (prospected) biogas plant
  Use/benefit: Operators may find out weaknesses and strengths of their project acceptance – a transferable tool, which may be used also after project end and / or in other countries
• Application of the tool in 24 cases
  Use/benefit: Giving support to regional biogas promoters in 6 countries
• Local events
  Use/benefit: Spreading information, achieving and increasing acceptance at the end-user
• 12 Round tables
  Use/benefit: Enhancing boundary conditions for biogas applications
• 6 Half-day seminars
  Use/benefit: informing counsellors and biogas lobbyists on features of the tool and the action.

   

Biogas Accepted Project Profile

Since this is an ongoing project, only parts of the work have so far been performed and completed. At the current stage, application regions and cases of concrete biogas projects have been selected. These biogas projects are either prospected, in planning or under (re-)construction, and they are interested in promoting their acceptance. In order to adapt the acceptance tool to regional needs, demands for application have been identified, comprising both technical as well as socio-economic features. E.g., the countries differ in technical requirements for biogas in gas grid applications, they differ in market penetration of gas driven vehicles and service stations, and they differ in many socio-economic issues like farm sizes and location, demands for local supply and knowledge concerning biogas applications.

A questionnaire tool has been created, supporting three application types: “biogas in grid”, “biogas for combined heat and power supply”, and “biogas for vehicle fuelling”. The tool is already online, and available in the languages English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Slovakian and Spanish. Tests with the tool have been performed in regard to the vehicle fuelling issue; nearly 400 car drivers have been surveyed for their acceptance of biogas. The test phase is still ongoing.

The first round of round tables has been performed and shown, that there is a high demand for enhancement of boundary conditions for biogas applications in the countries.

Conclusion:

Biogas production and utilization is already established in several European countries and best practices have now also been identified. A powerful effort to promote knowledge about biogas production or uses and transferring such best practices across the EU Member Countries, however, still needs to be made.

The future biogas production and usage will most likely be influenced to a considerable extent by policies. A number of driving forces have been identified for the production of biogas, such as climate change and fuel security. Biogas projects can further boost the local rural economy through creating jobs in the development and operation of anaerobic digestion plant. Promotion of renewable energy applications is therefore a major element in regional policy and can bring employment to regions which are otherwise deprived in terms of industrial development. These issues have to be implemented in policies and targets for the use of renewable energy sources.

On a regional and local scale, acceptance is most hindered by a lack of information about biogas applications and their benefits. Biogas project promoters need help not only in technical and economical concerns, but also in communication of the benefits of their activities to the public.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer

The project is being co-funded by the European Union, under the Vertical Key Actions 7 and 8 of the Intelligent Energy Europe Agency (IEEA) Work programme 2006: “Small scale RES applications” & “Alternative vehicle propulsion”. The sole responsibility for the content of this publication 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.

References

1 EurObserv'ER (2008): Biogas Barometer 2008, http://www.eurobserv-er.org/downloads.asp

2 EEG (2004): Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, Bundesgesetzblatt Jahrgang 2004, Teil I, S. 1918 ff

3 ROC: A Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) is a green certificate issued to an accredited generator for eligible renewable electricity generated within the United Kingdom and supplied to customers within the United Kingdom by a licensed electricity supplier. One ROC is issued for each megawatt hour (MWh) of eligible renewable output generated. http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/RenewablObl/Pages/RenewablObl.aspx

4 PHILIP ERIKSSON and MARTIN OLSSON (2007): The Potential of Biogas as Vehicle Fuel in Europe – A Technological Innovation Systems Analysis of the Emerging Bio-Methane Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Report No. 2007:6, ISSN: 1404-8167

5 Doris Lucke, Michael Hasse (Hrsg.), Annahme verweigert – Beiträge zur soziologischen Akzeptanzforschung, Leske, Budrich, Opladen 1998.

6 Gundi Dinse, Akzeptanz von wasserstoffbetriebenen Fahrzeugen, Institut für Mobilitätsforschung, Berlin 2003.

Authors and contact details:

Wolfgang E. Baaske, Marianne Haberbauer

Wolfgang E. Baaske

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STUDIA, Panoramaweg 1, 4553 Schlierbach, Austria

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Marianne Haberbauer

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PROFACTOR GmbH

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