Denmark
WBA: Special report
Deep Dive into the Danish Biogas Industry
Reports: Sam Hinton and Jon Hughes (AD Technical Manager and WBA Editor)
Pictures WBA/Hughes
Denmark is ahead of the game in response to the climate crisis and developing plans to deliver Net Zero; the biogas industry is represented on three industry-led committees tasked with mapping the delivery.
A key target is to have 100% biomethane in the grid by 2040, requiring an increase in output of around 1TWh a year.
Facilitated by Ammongas – one of Denmark’s leading biogas upgrading specialists – we undertook a fact-finding mission, travelling from west (Skive, Jutland) to east (Odense and Copenhagen).
We saw an industry that was united, professional in outlook and progressive, and looking to move to the next level of ‘P2X’ and further biorefining.
What was evident and instructive for any region or nation seeking to deploy biogas is that a long-term commitment to the technology has paid dividends in terms of employment, the economy and the environment.
Our report is set out as follows:
1. Net Zero Denmark – responding to the climate crisis
Climate targets / Industry-led climate partnerships (CP) / Who chairs the CPs / Companies are pacesetters / International trade
2. Skive – an incubator of green-energy tech
Oil crisis / A brief history of biogas development / The advent of the centralised model / Political setbacks / COP 15 / Biogas 2.0 / Lessons learnt
3. Energy City Skive
ROI of 33% / Carbon targets – neutrality by 2029, fossil-free by 2042 / Community mobilisation / P2X
4. GreenLab: where the future of energy is being made
The business of climate change / Intelligent grids / P2X – biogas to green hydrogen / Maersk / £160m inward investment since 2018
5. Centralised AD
The centralised model / The environmental catalysts – nitrification and eutrophication / Community engagement and planning / Operational imperatives
6. Case study 1 – Axel Månsson
Revenue stability and natural fertiliser – the reasons why Denmark’s largest producer of organic vegetables and eggs developed a biogas plant
7. Case study 2 – Boe Madsen / Madsen Bioenergi
The farming brothers left reeling by the 2008 crash who saw the future was in fuels
8. Case study 3 – Nature Energy
The powerhouse developer of renewable energy says biogas is the final link in the chain that can deliver a green transition
9. The pathway to 100% biomethane in the grid by 2040
There is no net zero without biogas / Positive impacts quantified / Structural policy issue / 1TWh a year growth forecast / Tiered support system on the table
