In Ukraine, it is necessary to create conditions for the production and use of biomethane. This will allow replacing 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, saving significant funds on the import of blue fuel and loading the Ukrainian gas transportation system (GTS). This was stated by Yuriy Shafarenko, Deputy Chairman of the State Energy Efficiency Agency of Ukraine, during the second meeting of the working group of the REGATRACE project together with the EBRD project “Zoning biomethane production and assessing the possibility and conditions for connecting biomethane producers to gas transmission and distribution systems in Ukraine”.
Biomethane is purified biogas, according to its physical and technical characteristics it meets the standards for natural gas and can be pumped into the GTS today without additional technical re-equipment.
"The potential for replacing natural gas with biomethane is about 8 billion cubic meters per year, which is equal to half of the annual volume of natural gas imports and more than a quarter of its total consumption," added Yuri Shafarenko.
However, today for the development of the biomethane market in Ukraine, it is necessary to adopt a number of legislative changes provided for by the provisions of the draft law No. 5464 developed with the participation of the State Energy Efficiency Agency, the Ministry of Energy and the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, which, in particular:
- a definition of the term "biomethane" is introduced;
- a procedure for providing a guarantee of the origin of biomethane is established;
- a register of production and consumption of biomethane is being introduced.
The adoption of this bill will allow:
- launch a biomethane market in Ukraine;
- reduce imports of natural gas and promote the development of the internal energy market;
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
- to organize the export of biomethane to the EU.
The advantages of biomethane production for Ukraine were explained by Georgy Geletukha, Chairman of the Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine: “Ukraine will be able to compete with other countries in this area, as it has one of the world's best agricultural raw material potentials for biomethane production. In addition, biomethane is already ready for injection into the gas network, unlike hydrogen. ”
