Sustainable Biogas Market Development in Central and Eastern Europe

Duration: 2010 – 2013 ● Client: European Commission (IEE) ● WIP Role: Financing, Market uptake ● www.biogasin.org

Responding to the experience of the BiG>East project and with regard to the renewable energy targets of the European Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) and other European targets on GHG, nitrate, fertilizers, waste, etc., the BiogasIN project has committed itself to effectively improve the framework conditions for the installation of new biogas plants in 7 CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Slovenia (BiogasIN target countries).

This is achieved by a well-balanced set of different measures at local, regional and national level, including the organisation of 80 events. As core of the BiogasIN project, capacity building training courses on biogas are organised for administrative bodies involved in permitting procedures and financing bodies (banks, credit institutes). Further courses on permitting procedures and on financing options are offered to biogas investors and farmers. These training courses are framed by the implementation of interactive forum events, study tours and high level conferences in CEE for politicians, decision-makers and important stakeholders involved in tailoring the national biogas policies.

The events are accompanied by the elaboration of several studies on framework conditions in CEE which are compared to the framework conditions in the top 5 EU biogas countries. Furthermore, a pan-European survey on biogas permitting procedures and financing options is implemented.

The BiogasIN project “Development of sustainable biogas markets in Central and Eastern Europe” (Contract No. IEE/09/848) is supported by the European Commission in the “Intelligent Energy for Europe Program” and coordinated by the Hrvoje Pozar Energy Institute, Croatia. The BiogasIN consortium includes 10 partner organisations.