Thursday 9th of March a new Norwegian report Mulighetsrommet for produksjon av biogass i Norge: Potensialstudie av aktuelle råstoff, nye teknologier og klimanytte about opportunities for biogas production in Norway was launched at a breakfast meeting in Oslo, followed by appeals and political debate. The report is written by the NORSUS researchers Kari-Anne Lyng and Ina Charlotte Berntsen, and was commissioned by Energigass Norge, Avfall Norge, Norges Bondelag, Biogass Oslofjord and Norsk Vann.
The project has included three main aspects: the theoretical biogas potential from current and possible future feedstock base for the current biogas technology, theoretical biogas potential of a possible future technology development, and climate benefits associated with increased utilization of the theoretical potential. The feedstocks included in the study are organic waste and residual resources, and do not include energy crops.
The results from the study show that there are large opportunities for producing considerably more biogas in Norway. If a larger share of the theoretical potential is exploited, biogas can constitute and important part of the future energy and fuel mix in Norway.
Biogas production based on waste and residual resources can contribute to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in several areas, such as: reduced emissions from use of fossil fuels, reduced emissions from the use of CO2 from biogas and reduced emissions from storage when using livestock manure for biogas production. The magnitude of the emissions reductions is dependent on how large proportion of the theoretical potential which is utilized.
