International Energy Agency report on small scale anaerobic digestion released

Task 37 of the International Energy Agency has just published a report entitled ‘Exploring the viability of small scale anaerobic digesters in livestock farming’ written by AD Network member Dr Clare Lukehurst, OBE and AD Network co-manager Angela Bywater.

The report explores the viability of small scale anaerobic digestion for livestock farming where there is a need to deal with animal manure and slurry in a manner that minimises the emission of greenhouse gases. Dairy farming for example, is dominated by small herds of animals, the slurry from which must be managed efficiently for the farm and to maintain high standards of health. AD is an acknowledged technology for farming operations that
affords a high standard of manure management, the production of high quality biofertiliser and also the possibility of generating energy for own use as well as export.
The report is aimed at farmers, as well as energy policy and decision makers and can be downloaded from the IEA Task 37 website here.

IEA Bioenergy Task 37 Country Reports Summary 2014

For those of you not aware of this, the IEA Task 37 website has a number of useful resources, not least of which are the Country Reports which summarise activity in member countries over the given period.

Task 37 members recently published an annual summary of their Country Reports for 2014. The individual country reports include information on the number of biogas plants in operation, biogas production data, biogas utilisation, number of upgrading plants, number of vehicles using biomethane as fuel, details of financial support mechanisms and some information on key national research and development projects.

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Biogas in smart energy grids

Task 37 recently published a technical brochure on “A perspective on the potential role of biogas in smart energy grids”. Increased generation of electricity from wind and solar installations is leading to challenges in terms of balancing electricity demand with supply and managing the increasing occurrences of surplus electricity. Biogas systems can facilitate increased proportions of variable renewable electricity on the electricity grid mainly through use of two different technologies: demand driven biogas systems which increase production of electricity from biogas facilities at times of high demand for electricity, or temporary storage of biogas at times of low electricity demand; and power to gas (P2G) systems when demand for electricity is less than supply of electricity to the electricity grid, allowing conversion of surplus electricity to methane.

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