EBA and EUGINE organised a successful Joint Breakfast Debate at the European Parliament
EU officials learnt and discussed about the key elements of using biogas CHPs in greening the heating and cooling sector.
On Wednesday 29th of June, EBA and the European Engine Power Plants Association (EUGINE) co-organised a breakfast event in the European Parliament on “Greening Heating and Cooling with Biogas”, hosted by MEP Algirdas Saudargas, Shadow Rapporteur for the Heating and Cooling Strategy in the ITRE Committee. The discussion amongst Members of the European Parliament and industry experts were both very timely and lively due to the upcoming EU legislative initiatives on renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy performance of building and the electricity market design. The discussion entailed in details the different opportunities for decarbonising the heating and cooling sector with very energy-efficient cogeneration units using biogas.
EBA’s President, Dr. Jan Stambasky, was the first speaker introducing the audience to the biogas industry and the work of EBA, highlighting the current capacity in the combined heat and power (CHP) generation and the recent progress in the biomethane production. Andreas Eberharter, member of EUGINE and expert in manufacturing engine-based CHP units, explained the high efficiency and diverse applications of co-and tri-generation engines using waste from farms, landfills or sewage treatments plants to produce electricity, heat and cold. Eva Hoos from DG Energy working for the energy efficiency unit recognised the role of the existing technologies to decarbonise the heating and cooling sector and its sustainable and efficient characters, and called for industries to deploy faster and at a larger scale. For the future legislative work, the technical advices and contribution from this debate will be taken into account.
The following open debate agreed on ensuring that decision-makers in Brussels need to recognise the importance of developing a legislative framework that is conductive towards green solutions in the energy sector as a whole, as well as calling for a sound sustainability criteria for biomass and a strong renewable orientated market design strategy that allows scarcity prices and remunerations for flexible power generation.
The closing remarks from MEP Algirdas Saudargas stressed the importance to consider using biogas CHPs to decarbonise the energy sector in a sustainable way. Additionally, he expressed his wish to see future developments that focus on modernising heating and cooling infrastructures that takes consumers as an active player into account in this transition.
