Biogas in Lower Saxony Inventory 2014 Niedersachsen Biogas in Niedersachsen Inventur 2014 Contents: 1. Introduction 1 2. Development and progress of biogas production and use 2 2.1 Development and number of biogas plants 2 2.2 Increase in plants using renewables and co-fermention 3 2.3 Regional distribution of biogas plants 4 2.4 Installed capacity by area 5 2.5 Output classes 6 2.6 Heat energy use of biogas plants 7 2.7 Biogas feed-in 7 3. Developments in the use of substrates 8 4. Energy crop cultivation 8 4.1 Land requirement 8 4.2 Regional issues 10 4.3 Energy crops in practice 10 4.4 Biodiversity and wildlife protection 12 4.5 Competition for land use 12 5. Biogas as an integrated service provider 12 5.1 »Lower Saxony Farm«: Sustainable biomass use in biogas plants based on farm fertilizer potential in Lower Saxony 12 5.2 The role of biogas in electricity production tailored to demand 13 5.3 Climate protection through biogas 14 5.4 Value creation in rural areas 14 6. Outlook 16 Further literature | List of abbreviations Publisher:: 3N Centre of Experts for Renewable Resources Lower Saxony Kompaniestraße 1 | 49757 Werlte | Tel.: 05951-989310 | Fax: 05951989311 | E-mail: [email protected] on behalf of: Lower Saxony Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Calenberger Straße 2 | 30169 Hannover Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Protection Archivstraße 2 | 30169 Hannover 6th revised edition, November 2014 All rights are reserved to the publisher. Reprinting only with permission. References / Graphical material: 3N Centre of Experts; except page 7: Neumann; page 12: Börries Layout: Margit Camille-Reichardt 1. Introduction Biogas in Lower Saxony Lower Saxony occupies the leading position in the de- area requirement for energy crops per MW of installed velopment of renewable energy from biogas and wind electrical output. However, there is still a need to ac- in Germany. Biogas is increasingly becoming the ‚inte- celerate the diversification in the cultivation of energy grated service provider‘ in the German energy system crops. The use of slurry and manure in biogas plants in and through the efficient use of power-heat cogenera- arable regions supports the efforts to reduce nutrient tion and electricity output tailored to demand can play excesses in livestock regions and contributes to the sus- a key role in future energy policy. In addition to this, tainable use of phosphorus and nitrogen. biogas can provide a service to agriculture through the For Lower Saxony, biogas has in the last few years avoidance of methane emissions in fertilizer manage- grown to become a significant economic factor. The ment and by the assurance of nutrient cycles. strong and critically evaluated growth in the number of Today, about a quarter of the renewable electricity can biogas plants in the meat-processing regions has alrea- be supplied from the 1,546 biogas plants in Lower Sa- dy been slowed by a 2012 amendment to the Renewa- xony. The many operating heat recovery concepts for ble Energy Act. biogas plants supply communities, businesses and pri- The brochure ‚Biogas in Lower Saxony‘ gives the latest vate households with largely CO2-neutral heat energy. position on biogas production and use in the state and This means new value creation concepts and enterprise is now available in the sixth edition. possibilities for communities and citizens. The increa- sing number of energy cooperatives and joint operator The biogas inventory 2014 relates particularly to the arrangements is evidence of this. course of development since 2011 and considers the plants in operation up to December 2013. In additi- Further options for use are provided by the processing on, plants which are under construction or awaiting of biogas and subsequent feed-in to the gas network, planning permission which should be operating in such as the use of biomethane as a fuel and the storage 2014 have been listed. In the years 2012 and 2013, of energy sources in the gas network for later provision numerous applications to extend biogas plants and for to meet demand for heat and electricity. In Lower Saxo- the installation of satellite cogeneration plants were ny, there are already 26 plants feeding in biomethane. approved. Here, a differentiation has to be made bet- New processes combine the fluctuating provision of ween the number of listed applications and the num- wind energy with storable biomethane. The first ‚po- ber of new biogas plants actually established. Increases wer to gas‘ pilot plant in the world made by the com- in capacity have been given for the existing old plants pany AUDI AG produces hydrogen in Werlte through rather than assessed as new plants. The same counts the use of ‚spare‘ wind energy by means of a hydrolysis for satellite cogeneration plants which are accounted process. This reacts with the CO2 of the biogas plant to in terms of the output performance of their central bio- produce methane which is stored in the gas network gas plants. and can be supplied to natural gas vehicles as a rege- The following evaluation is based on the data recording nerative fuel. An important factor here is that even for of the state ministries, state and regulating authorities, the CO2 source, no fossil fuels are used. our researchers, publications of government ministries, The efficiency of biogas plants has been increased over technical authorities, technical associations, energy the years through improved plant operation and better suppliers and also information provided by question- use of substrates. This is clearly shown in the reduced naires sent to biogas plant operators. 1 2. Development and progress of biogas production and use The biogas sector has undergone a considerable le- This development has been facilitated and supported vel of development. At present in Germany, there are by the relevant provisions of the Renewable Energy Act about 7,850 biogas plants with an electrical output of (REA) in force since 2000. The growth of new plants about 3500 MW in operation. In 2013, biogas provided is directly related to the current REA grant conditions. 18% of the electricity from renewable energy sources, The number of new plants in the period 2011 to 2013 amounting to about 4.7% of the countrywide electrici- was therefore lower than the comparable high-growth ty demand (source: BMUWi 2014). periods 2009 to 2011 (529 plants) and 2007 to 2009 At the end of 2013 in Lower Saxony, there were 1,546 (276 plants). In comparison to 2013, the number of predominantly agricultural biogas plants in operation plant extensions was clearly higher in 2012. This can be explained by the fact that the more favourable con- with an installed electrical output totalling 877 MWel. These plants produce about 25% of the renewable ditions of the REA 2009 encouraged many investors to electricity in Lower Saxony and make a considerable operate new plants. contribution to the provision of renewable energy in the heat energy market via district heating networks. 2.1 Development and number of biogas plants Illust. 1: Number and installed capacity of the biogas plants in Lower Saxony, 12/2013 Source: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz; Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Umwelt, Energie und Klimaschutz; 3N Kompetenzzentrum Niedersachsen Netzwerk Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. Number MWel. 2.500 1.000 885 864 877 2.000 800 743 1.500 600 600 1566 1519 1546 458 1405 1.000 365 400 344 1141 300 230 876 500 707 200 Number of biogas plants 37 45 95 112 600 520 148 180 435 Total output MWel. 280 0 250 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014* * Forecast In Lower Saxony, there are 1,546 plants in operation district administrations and the factory inspectorates. with an installed electrical total output of 8 MWel. However, these approvals are not always fully exploited Compared to the biogas inventory of 2011, the num- in all plants. For the actual electrical output which is ber of plants has increased by a total of 141, that is, by achieved, a level of about 90% of the approved out- 10%. The installed electrical output of biogas plants puts can be assumed. increased in the comparable period by 18%. In 2014, a very small growth in the number of biogas plants is expected. The installed electrical output is pro- visionally expected to rise to about 885 MWel. The fu- ture construction of new plants will consist mainly of small slurry plants up to 75 kWel. or extensions of older installations in order to adapt more efficiently to a flexi- ble electricity production. At present, it is not apparent whether the plants currently in the planning stage will start operation in the coming years. The basis of the output figures given in this study are taken from the approved electrical outputs from the 2 Total output in MW Lower Saxony 877 = 24,8% el. Bavaria 774 = 21,9% Number of biogas plants Schleswig-Holstein 305 = 8,6% Baden-Württemberg 296 = 8,4% Source: Biogas Association North Rhine-Westphalia 277 = 7,8% 2013 – industry figures, 230 = 6,5% Mecklenburg-West Pomerania own data Brandenburg 192 = 6,5% Saxony-Anhalt 183 = 5,2% Thuringia 121 = 3,4% Saxony 118 = 3,3% Hesse 83 = 2,3% Rhineland-Palatinate 61 = 1,7% Hamburg 12 = 0,3% 6 = 0,2% Saarland Illust. 2: Distribution of Berlin 2 = 0,1% operating biogas plants and installed total plant Bremen 0 performance in Germany 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 by the federal states 2013 In a comparison of other federal states, Lower Saxony and Bavaria are in the leading positions.