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Renewable gas could meet 16% of demand, says National Grid

National Grid, which distributes gas and electricity in northeastern US and the UK, says that renewable gas could meet 16% of demand.

Published in a white paper yesterday, Renewable Gas - Vision for a Sustainable Gas Network, the company research shows how biomethane produced from waste could meet the needs of its US customers in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

In the long term, with investment of around $7 billion across the four states it covers, National Grid says renewable gas could meet up to 25% of demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 16 million tons a year.

Using waste to produce biomethane via anaerobic digestion (AD) or by thermal gasification (TG), which is not yet a commercially viable technology, could mean a shakeup of the gas network, with unconventional sources such as dairy farms, waste water treatment plants, landfills, wood waste and food waste plants linked into the grid.

“So far, direct injection of renewable gas has been limited to a small number of projects in the US,” says Donald Chahbazpour from National Grid. “We wanted to… clearly illustrate how renewable gas is produced and integrated into an existing natural gas network.”

National Grid says it wants to take a leading role driving the industry forward, initially developing a small number of demonstration plants.

In the UK, National Grid has joined forces with British Gas and a local brewer, Adnams, to use waste from the brewing process to produce biomethane and inject it directly into the UK’s gas network.

For further information:
www.nationalgridus.com
www.nationalgridus.com/non_html/Renewable%20Gas%20-%20Vision%20for%20a%20Sustainable%20Gas%20Network.pdf

23 July 2010

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