Poland Energy Biogas
About 1 percent of Poland’s electricity comes from biogas, which is about as much as all the households in the capital city of Warsaw consume. According to experts, the country has the potential to build a total of several thousand biogas and biomethane plants, providing more than 10 times the current capacity. The current plans call for building biogas plants in agricultural areas. Biogas plants powered by sewage treatment plant sludge and bio-waste can be built near cities. In Germany there are approximately 9,000 biogas plants, and in Poland only approximately 500.
Henryk Kowalczyk, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, believes that when looking for energy reserves, it is worth paying attention to the still untapped potential for the development of agricultural biogas plants. Recent estimates made by the Institute of Technology and Life Sciences National Research Institute state that Poland can obtain about 5 billion cubic meters of agricultural biogas from animal manure alone. As the Minister assesses, considering all possible sources of raw materials for agricultural biogas production, especially from agri-food processing, it can be assumed that the current potential for agricultural biogas production in Poland is twice as large as previous analyses indicated.
The Polish government has proposed the introduction of a support system for the development of biomethane production as part of an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act currently being revised by the Parliament.“Agreement on cooperation for the development of the biogas and biomethane sectors” has been signed - Ministry of Climate and Environment - Gov.pl website (www.gov.pl)
The climate ministry adds that in addition to these legislative processes, it is taking steps to support the development of investments in the biomethane sector from aid programs, both domestic and from the EU. Work is being finalized on new programs to finance biogas development from the EU Modernization Fund. For example, the “Energy for the countryside” program provides support for farmers and cooperatives for the construction of agricultural biogas energy generation facilities (both in the form of grants and loans). In turn, the “Development of cogeneration based on municipal biogas” program will support entrepreneurs in the construction or modernization of installations for the fermentation of collected municipal bio-waste and the use of the resulting biogas for energy generation under conditions of high-efficiency co-generation.
As the Ministry of Climate assures, the country’s significant biogas potential, as well as the prevailing geopolitical situation and the EU’s ambitious new targets for biomethane generation, “mobilize the government to pursue regulatory tasks that will serve the emergence and development of the biomethane generation sector in Poland.”
Poland offers significant opportunities for U.S. technology suppliers especially in the field of equipment and advanced solutions suppliers for biogas generation.