A year, almost two, but biomethane hasn't yet become a favorite among Italians. Since 2018, the networks have been able to transport this fuel deriving from agri-food waste and sludge, but other pushes are needed to increase consumption. Companies are moving and despite having a potential target of 10 billion cubic meters to distribute in the next few years, they are slow. In the account also a North-South gap in plants, production and corporate culture. A push in these days of sustainable enthusiasm for further use of biomethane is Legambiente, whose calculations provide for a 10% annual coverage of natural gas. The horizon is the fateful 2030 with international significance, a bet and suggestion for governments, energy companies, environmental movements.
Italy - says the green organization - plays a bet with "important advantages, considering that biomethane makes it possible to face one of the most difficult challenges of decarbonisation, that of mobility and transport". Who has to intervene? For environmentalists we start from some prejudices, with actions by the government and the Regions to encourage the creation of new plants. Nonetheless there are today 1.600 biogas plants, and we are the second largest biogas producer in Europe and the fourth in the world. The potential of 10 billion cubic meters is just over twenty years away. At least eight billion cubic meters will come from agricultural sources, equal to around 10% of the current annual requirement for natural gas and two thirds of the storage potential of the national network.
The situation of biomethane must be seen in the natural gas market, with the large availability, supply contracts and, last but not least, the commercial assessments of distribution companies on the opportunity to introduce the raw material into the network. The incentives granted so far are also on the table. For the general manager of Legambiente Giorgio Zampetti, the decree of 2 March 2018, which introduced new incentives for the production of biomethane aimed at the transport sector, is an excellent tool. There are still four years left, because the concessions end in 2022 to go up again.
However, the legislation indicates a growth trend of 9% in 2022. Emilia Romagna is confirmed as the most convinced Region with dozens of farm producers and good practices copied by planners and technicians. In relation to agricultural production and managed waste, each Region should take charge of overseeing the supply chain without hesitation. It would be a "public" signal, to be transmitted, even to those gas distribution companies that show coldness in introducing biomethane into the network. The South, again as a technical and commercial opportunity to be seized. In Calabria there is only one plant near Cosenza, while Legambiente (and not only) imagines seeing even one built for each province. It can be done.
