A specific working group has been working for a few months on drafting the plan and on the measures it will incorporate to promote the implementation of this type of plants and take advantage of slurry and other resources of biological origin, to convert them into renewable energy.
Catalonia is an agri-food cluster that has a large amount of waste and by-products with the potential to be used to produce biogas and promote the circular economy as provided for in the Bioeconomy Strategy of Catalonia 2021-2030.
Increasing the use of this technology and the number of biogas production plants can help the management and sustainability of livestock farms, since Catalonia has a livestock model where pigs have a lot of weight and where careful management of slurry must be carried out.
Catalonia has the capacity to be a biomethane powerhouse. It has nearly eight million heads of pigs, 700.000 heads of cattle and 38 million birds. Generating 9,4 million tons of slurry and 2,8 million tons of manure and poultry manure each year, which, without adequate treatment, can cause serious contamination of the soil.
Currently, there are 20 biogas facilities, 4 that are fueled by municipal waste and 16 that are fueled by slurry and other substrates. Of the plants that currently manage livestock manure, 3 are individual, 1 collective and 3 cogeneration.
Several areas of large agricultural production in Catalonia are especially vulnerable to this problem: Lleida, Central Catalonia, Plana de Vic, Manol and Muga basins, Baix Penedès and Terres del Ebre.
The number of biomethane plants in Europe has grown by 17% in the last year, according to data from the European Biogas Association, reaching a total of 992 installations. The vast majority are distributed between France (306) and Germany (242). In Spain there are only two, but there is great interest on the part of some companies to alleviate this delay and take advantage of the potential.
At the I Renewable Gas Show, held in 2021, It was said that Spain could be the third country in Europe in renewable gas generation
This content comes from RETEMA
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