During the European Agricultural Forum, there was a discussion on the development of renewable energy sources, in particular biogas plants in rural areas. Experts agree that in order for farmers and the agricultural sector to systematically increase the production of energy and heat from renewable energy sources, the government must provide better conditions for connecting renewable energy installations to the grid in rural areas.
The discussion panel “Green energy in rural areas” was attended by practitioners who use renewable energy on a daily basis, such as Krzysztof Dziaduszyński, a renewable energy practitioner, and Sebastian Gregorczyk, director of animal breeding and renewable energy at Agrofert Polska. The debate also included experienced experts, such as Krzysztof Księżopolski, an expert from the Warsaw School of Economics, and Ryszard Pawlik, parliamentary advisor to Jerzy Buzek, MEP.
Experts discussed the development of biogas plants and photovoltaics in rural areas. They talked about the role of farmers investing in renewable energy in reducing CO emissions2 and fulfilling climate commitments set by the European Union.
Photovoltaics is developing great. What about biogas plants?
I guess no one will be surprised by the fact that photovoltaics is developing extremely dynamically in Poland. Rural areas are also contributing to this growth.
As emphasized by Dr. Krzysztof Księżopolski, an SGH expert, in the case of the development of photovoltaics, the goals for the share of energy from this type of renewable energy sources for 2040 have already been exceeded in 2024. We have a bigger problem with the development of biogas plants in rural areas.
We can produce 8 billion m33 biogas per year, and where we are, there is wasted potential – emphasized Krzysztof Księżopolski from SGH. – We do not use this potential in Poland, or we do it in an insufficient way.
In turn, Ryszard Pawlik, parliamentary advisor to Jerzy Buzek, MEP, emphasized that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection hastily submitted a working document to the EU regarding the update of the NECP by 2030.
If we analyze the NECP and WEM, the production of biomethane will amount to only 0.5 billion m33 the entire share in the Polish energy mix annually by 2030. In turn, the industry says it is able to produce 2 billion m3 per year, and in the EU, Polish production capacity is said to be approximately 3-3.5 billion m33 annually. And biomethane is in practice omitted in the plans included in the NECP and regarding the development of renewable energy in rural areas – emphasized Ryszard Pawlik.
As Krzysztof Księżopolski from SGH noted, these data are most likely deliberately underestimated, because the Polish government is unable (or realistically does not want to) properly estimate this potential. Moreover, the real possibilities of the participation of biomethane and biogas in the Polish renewable energy mix are deliberately underestimated, because in this way it is safer to meet such low self-imposed requirements and to declare success when we meet them.
So why don’t we increase energy security from the production of biogas and biomethane?
Wasted development potential of Polish biogas plants
As Krzysztof Księżopolski from SGH notes, the development potential of Polish biogas plants is simply wasted.
The development of biogas plants encounters problems with equipment and structural problems (too many small farms with insufficient investment potential), which do not allow the development of this business in rural areas. – noted an expert from SGH – I also emphasize the sensitivity of such a biogas installation to changes in energy prices, which are still unstable in Poland.
As he noted, the problem of developing Polish biogas is more complex because, first of all, it has to compete with natural gas. Secondly, there is no guarantee of profitability with such a large investment in agricultural biogas plants, which discourages farmers from taking investment risks.
The issue of lack of access to the energy and heating networks in rural areas is constantly growing – we are closing the way of connecting biogas plants to the network, depriving farmers of their access. So why should they invest so much money in biogas plants that may never return financially due to such barriers? – asked Krzysztof Księżopolski from SGH.
What blocks the development of renewable energy sources, especially biogas plants in rural areas?
It is not only refusals to connect biogas plants to the grid that hinder the development of renewable energy in rural areas
Sebastian Gregorczyk, director of animal breeding and renewable energy at Agrofert Polska, pointed not only to the lack of technical possibilities related to connecting larger biogas plants to the network, but also to the lack of will of subsequent government teams to change this situation.
In Poland, if we analyze the statistics, we can count up to 15,000. cattle breeders. Each of them may be a potential customer who will want to invest in renewable energy and biogas plants. Unfortunately, only in theory. I’m one of those 15,000. I can only find 100-200 breeding farms that will meet the requirements enabling the successive implementation of investments in agricultural biogas plants. This is very little – emphasizes Sebastian Gregorczyk. – Why is this happening? The first issue is the huge problems with connecting such installations to the network, which have been growing over the years. As a company, we are unable to change this because there are no appropriate regulations and clarification of certain processes related to the implementation of investments in biogas plants. And what’s worse, these are simple things that those in power can quickly change by introducing appropriate regulations. And we just talk and talk, discuss how bad it is in this sector and nothing changes – emphasizes the expert.
Krzysztof Księżopolski from SGH also points out another problematic issue of injecting gas and processed biogas into gas networks.
No larger distributor with an extensive natural gas network wants to buy biogas and connect biogas installations. There is also a lack of membranes for biogas purification. How do we want to be biogas and biomethane giants if we do not develop technologies that allow us to receive, process and use this gas? – Krzysztof Księżopolski wondered.
The Agrofert Polska expert emphasized that the waiting time for cogeneration licenses and permits is from 8 to 12 months, and during this time such an installation cannot operate and earn money.
I support farmers very much, but farmers also do not want to cooperate and are distrustful. If I planted 10 farmers and presented them with very good conditions for cooperation in the implementation of investments in biogas plants, they themselves would want to build such biogas plants and invest. They often do not see the benefits of cooperation and collective action – emphasizes the Agrofert Polska expert.
Experts emphasized that it is necessary to educate and raise awareness not only of farmers but also of the entire society.
In turn, Krzysztof Dziaduszyński, a renewable energy practitioner, emphasized that in order to develop renewable energy in rural areas, it is necessary to release connection capacities and invest in the distribution of heat and energy transmission throughout the country. Without this, there is no way to develop biogas plants and renewable energy in rural areas
We have a huge photovoltaic installation which, at peak moments, produces 25% of surplus electricity, which I cannot feed into the power grid – notes Krzysztof Dziaduszyński. – So what if more and more new facilities and legal solutions are being introduced, virtual prosumers, easier investment in biogas plants, when farmers hit a wall in the form of refusal to limit the transmission of green energy to the grid.
As Krzysztof Dziaduszyński, a renewable energy expert, notes, we have hundreds of megawatts of renewable energy and connection conditions that are blocked for good. The President of the Republic of Poland only extends connection agreements. The expert argued that if we managed to modernize the network and increase connection capacity, we could even triple the current results of energy and heat production from renewable energy sources.
The experts unanimously emphasized that rural areas will not be able to meet the increasingly stringent EU standards and restrictions because appropriate conditions are not being created for farmers to invest in biogas plants in their areas. There is a lack of connection capacity, but investors struggle with excessive bureaucracy, inspections and connection refusals.
