New record for biomethane production in Europe

24 May 2023

Nearly 30% more biomethane plants compared to the 2021’s edition.

Biomethane production has enjoyed a remarkable growth in the last decade and this upwards trend goes on with a nearly 30% increase in the number of biomethane plants compared to the previous edition of this map. This is a strong signal on the efforts of the industry to scale up production and push for further acceleration to reach the 35 bcm target by 2030 proposed by the European Commission in the REPowerEU plan.” Highlights Harmen Dekker, EBA’s CEO.

“Gas infrastructure operators are determined to support the European Commission’s vision to upscale the biomethane economy. We acknowledge our mission to connect producers to consumers and will ensure that biomethane’s exponential growth keeps thriving. Already today, we store and transport biomethane. It’s good to open the door for more renewable molecules to integrate Europe’s energy system. More biomethane produced at the European level is also good news for EU’s energy independence.” Complemented Boyana Achovski, GIE Secretary General.

Zoom in on the facts & figures:

Europe reached a total of 1,322 biomethane-producing facilities by April 2023.
These 299 new plants represent nearly 30% more than the ones reported in the previous edition of this map in 2021.
Compared to the previous editions of the map, the number of plants in Europe has steeply increased: 483 plants in the 2018 edition, 729 in the 2020 edition and 1,023 in the 2021 edition.
1,174 plants out of the total reported were located by the EBA and displayed on the map launched today.

Europe is already producing over 3.5 bcm of biomethane. This represents a production increase rate of 20% in 2021. An even bigger increase is expected for 2022 where, despite consolidated data not being disclosed, estimations confirm a significant rise in the number of plants and production shares.

Additionally, the data collected for the preparation of this map shows that over 75% of the current plants are already connected to the transport or distribution grids. Regarding feedstock use, a clear trend towards agricultural residues, organic municipal solid waste, and sewage sludge is visible. From 2017, almost no new plants were established to run on monocrops.

Biomethane deployment around Europe

The countries with the strongest growth in their biomethane production in 2021 were France (+ 2,130 GWh), Denmark (+ 1,642 GWh) and Germany (+ 1,553 GWh). In absolute numbers, the largest producers of biomethane in 2021 were Germany (12,753 GWh), the United Kingdom (6,183 GWh), Denmark (5,683 GWh), France (4,337 GWh), the Netherlands (2,374 GWh) and Italy (2,246 GWh).