A major cross-border initiative was revealed at the end of September during the European Biogas Association (EBA) conference in Ghent, Belgium. EBA President, Dr Jan Stambasky, announced the official establishment of the European Renewable Gas Registry (ERGaR) aisbl, which will be hosted at the EBA.
– The main purpose of the new association is to establish an independent, transparent and trustworthy documentation scheme for mass balancing of biomethane distributed along the European natural gas network, said Stambasky during the event, adding that the first task of ERGaR is to elaborate the detailed procedures for performing the mass balancing of biomethane injected into the European natural gas system and to apply for the recognition of the voluntary scheme by the European Commission (EC) in accordance with the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) and other related legislative documents.
The scheme will build on national registries and the documentation system will enable cross-border trade of renewable gases via the European natural gas network while preventing double sale and double counting.
– Injected biomethane gets blended with natural gas in the pipelines and the methane molecules of fossil and renewable origin cannot be differentiated anymore. Hence, mass balancing with appropriate documentation is the only feasible solution to track biomethane in the fossil gas grid system, he argued.
9 members, 8 countries
The founding members are: AGCS Gas Clearing & Settlement AG (Austria), European Biogas Association (Belgium), Energinet.dk (Denmark), Landwärme GmbH (Germany), Consorzio Italiano Biogas (Italy), STX Services B.V., (Netherlands), Renewable Energy Association Ltd (UK), VSG – Swiss Association of Gas Industry (Switzerland) and Energie 360° AG (Switzerland). The Board of the ERGaR aisbl consists of six members, Jeppe Bjerg from Energinet.dk has been elected as its President.
According to Stambasky, a number of other organisations and companies in several other European countries have expressed their interest and readiness to support the intended activities of ERGaR.
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