Renewable Gas Alliance welcomes the release of new RACE for 2030 report

The Renewable Gas Alliance welcomes the release of the RACE for 2030 report into the opportunity of anaerobic digestion for electricity, transport and gas.

This report shows the enormous potential of renewable gas, not only to help realise Australia’s climate ambitions and generate economic growth, but provide an ongoing and affordable low-emission energy source for consumers. The report will be presented at the upcoming Australian Renewable Fuels Week taking place in Brisbane. 

According to the report, biogas could account for more than 50 per cent of all gas consumption in Australia by 2050, with the nation boasting enough feedstock to generate 371 PJ of biogas per year _ the equivalent of 6.2 per cent of Australia’s total energy consumption. This outcome would see a 28 per cent reduction in Australia’s total emissions from natural gas use, help generate an additional $50 billion to Australia’s GDP, and create 18,100 full-time jobs.

But importantly, the report confirms that given Australia’s vast agricultural advantage, biogas could be supplied at a lower cost to consumers than electrifying gas services.

There are however no illusions in the report that this compelling journey to a renewable gas future is an easy one, nor one that can be achieved without governments acting to bring down the regulatory walls that are holding back the industry from advancing at pace.

Australia must now play catch up to nations in Europe and North America where political will and commercial incentive set a course to this future decades ago. Europe now produces 3.5 billion cubic metres of biogas, with the European Commission setting a target of 35 billion cubic metres of production by 2030.

A renewable gas future in Australia requires the championing of government and the removal of clear impediments that are delaying investment.

It requires the urgent certification of biomethane as an emissions-reducing energy source; the major roadblock in realising the full potential of biogas in Australia.

But as the report also outlines, there is the crucial requirement for agricultural residues to be included as a method in the Emissions Reduction Fund.

Last year the Clean Energy Regulator announced variations to the ERF biomethane method package, adding landfill gas, wastewater treatment and animal effluent management to the fund for the generation of eligible carbon abatement. However, those welcome variations did not include the most potent and most readily available ingredient for anaerobic digestion: agricultural residues.

The RACE for 2030 report states that agricultural waste offers the “greatest potential” for biogas expansion and could account for around 86 per cent of total biogas potential by 2050.

It’s time to embrace the potential of Australia’s renewable gas future.