The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) looks at biomethane for HGVs and asks whether we can afford to wait for hydrogen?
Last December, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its ‘Energy White Paper – Powering our net zero future’, which details the government’s plans to decarbonise the energy sector over the next 30 years by developing low carbon energy generation systems that will break our dependence on fossil-based sources.
The “energy mix” underpinning the delivery of this objective is predictably dominated by wind, solar and nuclear technologies, as well as, increasingly, by hydrogen. Within the mix, anaerobic digestion (AD) and its production of biomethane are recognised for their ability to help decarbonise one of the UK’s trickiest systems, the national gas grid.
So much so that, this year, the government will launch the Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) to support the deployment of new AD plants, with the target of trebling biomethane in the grid by 2030.
But disappointingly, the White Paper fails to identify biomethane as a significant technology to decarbonise transport, and in particular long-range Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), despite multiple studies demonstrating the environmental and financial benefits of biomethane-powered HGVs.
With hydrogen and electricity being prioritised in the longer term, the HGV industry is understandably wary of investing into biomethane, its refuelling infrastructure and its vehicles – which risk becoming stranded assets as hydrogen and electric vehicles technologies become commercially viable.
Instead, it proposes hydrogen as the most likely long-term solution, with BEIS investing £20 million over the next year to help address the fact that low carbon hydrogen production, transportation and utilisation are not currently achievable at scale.
In 2017, HGVs, vans, buses and other large vehicles were responsible for 39% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emission. To decarbonise this sector, hydrogen and electric vehicles are favoured by government due to their zero tailpipe emissions – yet these technologies are not ready to tackle heavier modes of transport.
For example, it could take another 15 years until it becomes economically and practically feasible to manufacture battery HGVs. Such a carbon-intensive sector cannot afford any delay. AD and biomethane are ready-to-use technologies which can start delivering carbon savings immediately. All stakeholders in the climate change debate recognise the need to act now. So why wait?
With hydrogen and electricity being prioritised in the longer term, the HGV industry is understandably wary of investing into biomethane, its refuelling infrastructure and its vehicles – which risk becoming stranded assets as hydrogen and electric vehicles technologies become commercially viable.
However, with biomethane cutting well-to-wheel (WTW) emissions by 80% per km driven, there is a strong argument for the technology to play a crucial role in decarbonising HGV transport over the next 10 to 20 years.
Significant decarbonisation
As it stands, the biomethane industry has the potential to generate 76TWh of biomethane per year – this equates to 97% of the current HGV energy demand. In 2019, a report by Cenex, the independent, not-for-profit low carbon experts, also suggests that a biomethane-powered HGV, covering 160,000km/year can pay back its cost after two years.
Over 10-20 years, biomethane can deliver significant decarbonisation benefits AND make financial sense to hauliers, as well as municipalities and other users of large vehicle fleets.
There are already many signs that the AD industry can increase its biomethane production to meet growing demand in the future. With the government expanding the flexibility for plants to switch between Renewable Heat Incentive/GGSS support and the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, many of them will be sending their biomethane to the transport sector.
Additionally, biomethane can deliver carbon negative WTW savings, depending on the organic feedstocks used. Biomethane derived from agricultural manures will be recognised in the EU’s upcoming Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII), where further carbon savings may be delivered through the integration of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technology.
If the long-term solution is indeed hydrogen, then biomethane can be converted into carbon negative green hydrogen via steam reformation and carbon capture.
AD can cut emissions by over 27 MtCO2e, which represents nearly a quarter of all UK transport emissions
To raise awareness of the potential of biomethane to decarbonise transport and make the case to government and transport companies, a number of AD industry stakeholders are joining forces to assess the policy, financial and technical requirements of fully deploying biomethane as a fuel for HGVs and other industrial vehicles.
AD can cut emissions by over 27 MtCO2e, which represents nearly a quarter of all UK transport emissions.(1)
“Biomethane (gas) fuelled HGVs represent a ‘no regrets solution available today’, says Isaac Occhipinti, of the Gas Vehicle Network. “They are the logical choice. They are cheaper to run and emit significantly lower levels of carbon. They will help the UK meet its decarbonisation goals now, not in ten years’ time. Government shouldn’t wait, especially when there’s this solution available today.”
ASDA and Waitrose, as well as Bristol’s and Nottingham’s councils, are among early adopters of biomethane-fuelled vehicle fleets in the UK and reaping the economic and environmental benefits of doing so. Demand for biomethane and gas vehicles is at an all time high – the transition to biomethane-vehicles has begun.
Charlotte Morton, ADBA Chief Executive, concludes: “As the UK prepares to host COP26 and show leadership in responding to the climate change emergency, its government must address its net zero strategy in the short term as well as the long term to make the necessary inroads in reducing GHG emissions.
“By 2040, it will be too late for hydrogen and electric vehicles to counterbalance the volume of emissions from transport that the next 20 years, without biomethane, will generate.
We just cannot afford to wait.”
- Source: Biomethane: The Pathway to 2030 – ADBA, 2020