Biomethane, new plants accelerated

Biomethane, new plants accelerate: 'The goal of allocating all the capacity incentivised by the NRP - which a few months ago seemed impossible - is now plausible,' explains Piero Gattoni, president of the Italian Biogas Consortium (Cib). 'Our observatory,' he continues, 'leads us to estimate a fourth call for tenders (which closed on 2 August and whose results will be published in October, ed.) in line with the quantities requested by the third. We believe we will be able to reach the required capacity at the end of the year'.

The companies are ready, thanks also to a favourable regulatory framework that was consolidated during the summer: 'The Arera resolution on minimum guaranteed prices has arrived, the Fer2 decree that incentivises new biogas plants has come into force, the Sustainability decree that establishes the national certification system for the sustainability of biofuels has been published, and the Agriculture decree that facilitates the establishment of bilateral contracts between biomethane producers and the hard-to-abate industry with the simplification of the passage of guarantees of origin is now law. These are all measures that give an organic framework to companies and allow them to plan important investments. They also underline a strategy that focuses on the production of renewable gas from the agricultural sector as a technology for the transition,' Gattoni notes. The total economic commitment, between EUR 1.7 billion of NRP funds and the companies' share, will reach EUR 5 billion. The measure concerning the development of biomethane (dm 15/09/22), in fact provides for capital support of up to 40 per cent of expenditure, in addition to subsidised tariffs.

The target remains by June 2026 a production of 2.3 billion cubic metres more than the approximately 2.5 billion that is the current Italian capacity. In the Pniec, Minister Gilberto Pichetto reiterated during the summer, the 2030 target for biomethane is to reach 10 per cent of total gas demand, i.e. over 5 billion cubic metres. Yet the process for such an achievement started uphill. The Pnrr tenders only started in January last year and initially saw a lukewarm response from companies: 29,977 cubic metres per hour out of 67,000 allocated with the first, 25,881 out of 108,272 with the second, 58,119 out of 131,892 with the third. The current total is 113,977 cubic metres per hour allocated out of 257,000 available: if, according to Cib's estimates, the fourth tender will award around 58,000 more, this will leave 85,000 for the fifth and final one.

"Since there has been a time compression of initiatives, there remains the concern of being able to build everything by June 2026, when the NRP expires. In general, beyond 2026, further supporting regulations will be needed to give companies the medium to long-term visibility they need for industrial planning,' Gattoni concludes.