Carbon Markets for Biogas Digesters
Overview
Carbon markets constitute a new financing option for biogas dissemination projects. The number of biogas projects that are under validation, requesting registration or registered is 516, or 11.6% of the CDM projects (UNEP Risoe, March 2009). However, the highest number of biogas projects is concentrated in 5 countries, namely: Thailand, India, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Most of the registered projects are situated on the commercial livestock farms and the main emission reduction takes place due to switch in those cases where biogas is used for energy generation. By installing the biogas unit the animal manure that was previously deposited in an open lagoon in the baseline scenario is fermented in the biogas digester and the methane emission is avoided. The generated biogas can either be flared or used for energy generation. Biogas can be used to replace fossil fuels for heating purposes, or for producing heat and electricity by introducing a CHP unit. Apart from the benefits of replacing fossil fuels and improving the manure management system, the by-product after the fermentation of the manure is a digestate (bio-slurry) which could be used as high nutrient organic fertilizer.
Further Information
- PoA CDM Manual - Mini Biogas Plants for Households (August 2009) - Very helpful overview on PoA for biogas projects.
- KfW PoA Blueprint Book 2nd Edition - Includes a section on PoA issues for domestic biogas plants
- Environmental Benefits of Biogas Plants
