Market insights from ENDS Waste&Bioenergy

As a partner of the ADBA National Conference, ENDS Waste&Bioenergy is sharing some information about the service.

ENDS Waste&Bioenergy (EWB) is a news and data service reporting on biogas, biomass and waste-to-energy projects, markets and technology in Europe.

The three sectors all contribute to a strong future for bioenergy in a greener and low carbon economy. Though they employ distinct technology and have different feedstocks, they also have multiple common interests.

One trend being tracked by EWB is integration of technology supply markets. Last month, energy-from-waste plant builder Hitachi Zosen Inova entered the biogas field as a technology supplier. The company says its customers wanted a full range of waste treatment solutions so it bought the well-established Kompogas from parent company Axpo, for an undisclosed sum.

More recently Swiss trade associations representing the anaerobic digestion and biomass energy industries respectively have agreed to merge, saying that this will enable them to give a stronger voice to both sectors. The Association Suisse des Installations de Compostage et de Méthanisation, known as ASIC-VKS and Biomasse Suisse, will become one from January.

Meanwhile, EWB’s tracking of large European biogas industry projects with energy capacity above 1MW points to healthy growth. The number of large biomass projects in our database grew by 3% to 106 at the end of October. If all are built, this would add capacity to process over 14m tonnes of waste and other biomaterials.

Far less of the biogas industry’s growth is coming from Germany than a few years ago due to reductions in subsidies under this year’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Just three years ago the German biogas sector was adding 600 MW of electrical capacity per year. The latest forecast is for an additional 8 MW by 2015. German biogas technology suppliers have been hit hard, with some companies facing insolvency.

Other markets are picking up the slack, though. Britain is a hive of activity. And new markets are opening in countries like Italy, where firms like EnviTec Biogas are now investing in building AD facilities.

Overall, ENDS Waste&Bioenergy is now tracking more than 1,600 separate plants across Europe, 364 of them large AD facilities. Please visit our site to sign up for a free trial.