Biogas in Belgium

General

In the strongly regionalized state of Belgium a distinction can be made between federal policy and regional policy regarding renewable energy sources (RES). The incentive schemes for RES are most dominant at the regional level, while on the federal level the RES policy is imposed in more general terms. Attention for energy saving activities exists at both levels. For electricity, the green certificate trading and quota system has been implemented for both Flanders and Wallonia. The certificates can be traded at regional level or at federal level. The three regional energy agencies are: VIREG (Flemish Region), DGTRE (Walloon Region) and IBGE (Region of Brussels Capital). The main renewable contribution in the Belgian energy mix comes from combustible renewable biomass and waste sources. In Flanders, generation from renewable sources is expected to rise to 6% by 2010, being at 2% in 2004. In Wallonia, the objective for 2010 is a raise to 8% at the horizon 2010. In both regions there is a fast growing electricity generation coming from wind energy. Brussels-Capital has, because of its limited surface and electricity generation capacity, very limited renewable energy facilities, being mainly solar thermal demonstration projects.

According to the draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Belgium is 13% (in the year 2005 the share was 2.2%) (European Parliament legislative resolution of 17 December 2008). 

Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Belgium

The National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Belgium was submitted in December 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive 2009/28/EC is 13% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in that year exactly matches the target.  According to the projection, the most important contribution in the year 2020 is expected from biomass (renewable heating and cooling) (2034 ktoe, 38% of all renewable energy). Second important contribution is expected from biomass (renewable electricity) (11.0 TWh or 949 ktoe, 18% of all renewable energy). The third largest contribution is from wind power (10.5 TWh or 901 ktoe, 17% of all renewable energy). Wind power contributes with 4.3 GW (10.5 TWh). For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is projected to be 1.3 GW (1.1 TWh). For solar thermal the 2020 contribution is projected to be 199 ktoe. The two most important biofuels are projected to contribute 698 ktoe (biodiesel) and 91 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The renewable electricity production from solid biomass amounts to 9.6 TWh (823 ktoe) and for biogas it is expected to be 1.4 TWh (124 ktoe). The consumption of renewable heat is expected to amount to 1947 ktoe for solid biomass and 55 ktoe for biogas.

Renewable heating, cooling and power: biogas

For the Walloon region a biogas-specific target is in place of electricity production of 225 GWh and a heat production of 100 GWh in the year 2010. Several policies are in place to reach this target. Firstly, facilitators are in charge to help biogas project managers and to eliminate barriers. Secondly, biogas is one of the RES technologies favoured by the green certificate system, which is particularly advantageous in case of cogeneration. Thirdly, a handbook for implementing installations up to 10 MWth is available. Finally, several financial measures are in place.

Future programme changes expected
No information is available on future programme changes.

Sources

Commission Energy 2030, Belgium's Energy Challenges Towards 2030, final report, June 2007, http://www.ce2030.be

Portail de l'Énergie en Région wallonne, http://energie.wallonie.be (sourced September 2008)

The National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm (sourced July - December 2010)

Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap (sourced December 2010)

 
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: December 2010