The trade association claimed Britain has the potential to produce 40TWh worth of biomethane each year by 2035 – the equivalent of 45 tankers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). By comparison the UK imported 124TWh of LNG in 2014 according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
The REA said the UK has fastest growing biomethane industry in the world. Fifty plants were completed by the end of 2015, producing around 2.5TWh of green gas each year, and a further 15 projects are expected to be finished by the end of 2016, bringing total annual production to 3.5TWh.
IMAGE: the size of the market
Head of UK biogas at the REA, Kiara Zennaro, said: “While the government for years has touted the ‘fracking revolution,’ biomethane is actually getting on with the job of increasing our domestic gas production whilst decarbonising supply.
“Biomethane is also about the pragmatic use of our existing resources – the gas is produced by digesting food and other organic wastes. By producing this gas we are improving our sustainability.”
The association said the government could support the industry by implementing the mandatory collection of food waste – a policy which it said would be “pragmatic” and “cost-effective”.
Last week Green Energy became the first supplier in the UK to offer its customers 100 per cent renewable gas.