Biogas in Denmark

General

The importance of energy independence in Denmark is underlined in the government plan ‘A Visionary Danish Energy Policy’ (January 2007) in which also the importance of renewable energy sources is stressed. Denmark is known for its high penetration rates of wind power in the electricity systems, that locally may result in overcapacity during certain time-frames. Heat supply through distribution networks is common practice in Denmark. The major developments of the district heat sector took place in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on cogeneration of electricity and heat. According to the present policy Denmark should have at least 30% energy supply from renewable energy in 2025, which corresponds to a wind power production of around 50% of electricity consumption.

Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Denmark   
   
The National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Denmark was submitted in July 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive 2009/28/EC is 30% 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) (2643 ktoe, 54% of all renewable energy). Second important contribution is expected from wind power (11.7 TWh or 1007 ktoe, 20% of all renewable energy). The third largest contribution is from biomass (renewable electricity) (8.8 TWh or 761 ktoe, 15% of all renewable energy). Wind power contributes with 4.0 GW (11.7 TWh) in the year 2020 (onshore wind 2.6 GW and 6.4 TWh, offshore wind 1.3 GW and 5.3 TWh). For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is projected to be 0.0 GW (0.0 TWh). For solar thermal the 2020 contribution is projected to be 16 ktoe. The two most important biofuels are projected to contribute 167 ktoe (biodiesel) and 94 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The renewable electricity production from solid biomass amounts to 6.3 TWh (546 ktoe) and for biogas it is expected to be 2.5 TWh (214 ktoe). The consumption of renewable heat is expected to amount to 2470 ktoe for solid biomass and 165 ktoe for biogas.    

Renewable heat and electricity: biogas

For biogas plants connected to the grid between 22 April 2004 – 31 December 2008 the transmission system operator will sell the electricity produced on the spot market. The subsidy together with the market price will ensure a tariff of 60 øre/kWh for 10 years and 40 øre/kWh for the following 10 years. The subsidy cap implies that the total use of biogas will not exceed 8 PJ/year.

Denmark has in 2008 introduced new rules for subsidies resulting in an amount of 0.745 dkk/kWh for electricity produced from biogas. The aim of the subsidies is to facilitate for production of new plants and for rebuilding of old plants to increase their capacity. The goal is to have a production of 2.8 TWh by 2020, which means 4 new plants per year until then. The biogas potential in Denmark has been estimated to around 11 TWh which is 5 % of the total energy consumption in the country. This can be compared to the production during 2004 which was around 1 TWh [1].

Upgrading of biogas and injection to the gas grid

Denmark has so far not had any upgrading plants, but is in the process of planning for two new upgrading plants to be built. The produced biogas can be transported in a pipeline to nearest CHP to a cost of 0.1 dkk/Nm3, or it can be upgraded to an estimated cost of 1.5 dkk/Nm3 (Petersson, 2008).

Future programme changes expected
No information on future policy.
 

Sources
Danish Energy Agency, www.ens.dk (sourced September 2008)

Petersson, A.: Biogas from an international perspective. Swedish Gas Centre (SGC), 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