Ukraine’s gross electricity production from biomethane has doubled to 100 gigawatts hour electric (GWhe) in the last year, according to new International Energy Agency data.
Its biogas share has also risen 40 GWHe to 1450 GWHe while thermal energy production in heating and cooling systems from biogas rose from 467 ktoe to 573 ktoe.
Ukraine’s biomethane production deployment programme, , sets ambitious production targets of 1 bcm of biomethane per year by 2030 and 2.1 bcm per year by 2035. Last year it exported biomethane to the EU for the first time.
Currently seven plants are in operation, with Teofipol Energy’s facility in Khmelnytskyi region coming on stream in March.
©IEA
Ukraine’s 33 million hectares of agricultural land provide access to substantial feedstock volumes spanning agricultural waste and residues, cover crops, agro-industrial by-products and organic municipal solid waste.
The IEA estimates Ukraine’s biogas and biomethane production potential, using only waste and residues, at roughly 11.6 billion cubic meters equivalent per year, making it the European leader in terms of available feedstock.
“Expanding biomethane production can contribute to improving energy supply resilience during the ongoing war while supporting the transition to a more diversified and sustainable energy system over the longer term,” the report notes.
“Realising Ukraine’s biomethane potential, however, will depend less on feedstock availability than on addressing policy, infrastructure and market barriers.”
