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Biogas policy in Sweden

General
In the EU-directive 2001/77/EG for RES, the indicative target of the electricity consumption in Sweden should increase from 49.1% in 1997 to 60% in 2010. That means 16 TWh of new RES. Although wind power today supplies less than 1% of Sweden’s total electricity production, it has the potential to supply a considerably greater share, making it an area of political priority. In Bill No. 2001/02:143, Cooperation for Reliable, Effective and Environmentally Friendly Electricity Production, the Swedish Parliament has set a national planning target of 10 TWh of electricity from wind power by 2015. Instructed by the Government, the Swedish Energy Agency has proposed a new planning target of 30 TWh of wind power production in 2020. Of this, 20 TWh should be onshore, and 10 TWh offshore. This will necessitate an increase in the number of wind power plants from less than 1000 to 3000–6000.

Swedish RES-E policy is composed of the following mechanisms:

Biomass is a traditional and increasingly important energy source in Sweden. Government policies, especially CO2 taxation on fossil fuels first imposed in 1990, have strongly contributed to this increase. 

According to the Directive 2009/28/EC 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 Sweden is 49% (in the year 2005 the share was 39.8%). The Directive has a mandatory 10 % target for transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers to renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.

Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Sweden
The National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Sweden was submitted in July 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive 2009/28/EC is 49% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in that year is 50.2%.  According to the projection, the most important contribution in the year 2020 is expected from biomass (renewable heating and cooling) (9491 ktoe, 48% of all renewable energy). Second important contribution is expected from hydropower (68.0 TWh or 5847 ktoe, 30% of all renewable energy). The third largest contribution is from biomass (renewable electricity) (16.7 TWh or 1435 ktoe, 7% of all renewable energy). Wind power contributes with 4.5 GW (12.5 TWh) in the year 2020 (onshore wind 4.4 GW and 12.0 TWh, offshore wind 0.2 GW and 0.5 TWh). For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is projected to be 8 MW (4 GWh). For solar thermal the 2020 contribution is projected to be 6 ktoe. The two most important biofuels are projected to contribute 251 ktoe (biodiesel) and 465 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The renewable electricity production from solid biomass amounts to 16.6 TWh (1430 ktoe) and for biogas it is expected to be 0.1 TWh (5 ktoe). The consumption of renewable heat is expected to amount to 9415 ktoe for solid biomass and 11 ktoe for biogas.

Renewable heat and electricity: biogas
In Sweden the biogas production has been more or less constant the past years, which is also true for the total number of plants. However, there is a change in where the biogas comes from. The production from landfills decreases as expected, while the production from sewage treat-ment plants and co-digestion plants increases [1].

Upgrading of biogas and injection to the gas grid
In Sweden 34 upgrading plants were in operation in 2007 (25 based on water wash, 7 based on PSA, and 2 based on chemical absorption) [2]. On four places the upgraded gas is injected to the gas grid and can thus replace natural gas. In Sweden the biggest environmental benefit is gained, by upgrading biogas and replacing fossil transport fuels. 19% of the produced biogas is utilized as vehicle fuel [1]. During 2007, 28 million of Nm3 biogas was sold as vehicle fuel, which is more than the amount of natural gas (about 25 million Nm3) sold as vehicle fuel in 2007 [2]. 14400 vehicles (buses, heavy cars, light cars) were riding on gas (biogas and natural gas) in 2007 [2]. End of December 2007 there were 86 public gas filling stations and 27 gas fill-ing stations for buses [5].

Policy measures
The introduction of biogas as vehicle fuel in Sweden has been realised by many governmental and local support measures, such as [3][4][6]:
•    A 30% investment support from governmental investment programmes to many biogas plants;
•    A special investment support of M€ 15 for biogas filling stations during 2006 and 2007;
•    Exemption of biogas use as vehicle fuel from tax;
•    Relative low natural gas tax of 1.4 €ct/kWh (3.9 €/GJ) compared to a tax of 7.7 €ct/kWh (21.4 €/GJ) for petrol;
•    Free parking for biogas cars in several cities like Gothenburg;
•    Readiness of the gas suppliers in trying to keep the biogas price about 20-30% below the equivalent price of petrol, as long as the market for biogas as vehicle fuel is under development.
•    New car tax since October 2006. Tax based on fuel and CO2 emissions. Gas models re-duced with about 50% compared to petrol.
•    Obligation to provide biofuels at filling stations.
•    €1100 subsidy for new Eco-cars.
•    Exception from congestion tax in Stockholm from 1 August 2007 for gas vehicles, ethanol and electricity hybrids.

Regarding the environmental targets, the government’s policy is that 85% of all new gov-ernmental cars should be Eco friendly, as well as 25% of all new emergency services vehicles [3].

Future programme changes expected

Source

[1]    Petersson, A.: Biogas from an international perspective. Swedish Gas Centre (SGC), 2008
[2]    Petersson, A.: Country report: Sweden. Swedish Gas Centre (SGC), IEA meeting, Ludlow, 18 April 2008
[3]    Persson, M.: Biogas-a renewable fuel for the transport sector for the present and the future. Swedish Gas Center (SGC), March 2007
[4]    SGC (Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB): Country report-Sweden. May 2007
[5]    Mathiasson, A.: Vehicle gas utilisation in Sweden; today and tomorrow. 2nd Nordic Biogas Conference, Swedish Gas Association, March, 2008
[6]    Nielsen, B.S.: Biogas in Nordic countries; a brief overview and characteristics. 2nd Nordic Biogas Conference, Danish Biogas Association, March, 2008
2.12    MSW

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)

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Last update: December 2010

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