The Generalitat Valenciana wants to promote the deployment of 100 biogas plants in the Valencian Community to reduce dependence on natural gas and promote the circular economy through the transformation of waste into fuel. The initiative will reduce natural gas consumption by 6.5% and save 300 million euros a year. The idea is that 40% of the plants are public and 60% private. The project aspires to have 300 million euros from European funds. In addition, the Generalitat will provide 150 million euros and private companies 50 million. The sector has welcomed the plan with optimism. In Europe there are nearly 18,000 biogas plants, but in Spain there are only 200.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition has presented the Valencian Biogas Route with the aim of creating a new industrial sector that will generate 6,000 green jobs. In addition, it will allow progress in the fight against climate change, the circular economy and energy sovereignty in a situation marked by historic highs in the price of energy.
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Mireia Mollà, has highlighted the need to speed up the creation of this new industrial sector, which has clear environmental and economic benefits, in a context such as the current energy war caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The different points of the Route, with which it is intended to promote green employment, have been explained in an event in which the councilor Mireia Mollà participated, together with the regional secretary of Ecological Transition, Paula Tuzón, the general directors of Canvi Climátic and Ecological Transition, Celsa Monrós and Pedro Fresco, respectively, and technical staff of the Ministry.
The initiative combines the environmental aspect – which will allow a 3% reduction in the global emissions of the Valencian Community and the valorization of urban solid waste, from sewage treatment plants, livestock and the agri-food industry – with the socio-economic benefits of creating a sustainable industry that will create 6,000 new jobs and will reduce the purchases of natural gas in third countries for an amount greater than 300 million euros.
“We have the opportunity, the potential and the political will to accelerate the production of biogas to become a strategic territory, multiplying the current production tenfold and replacing with renewable gas the energy consumption of 65% of households or the 4 times the Valencian textile industry”, emphasized Mollà.
Environmental impact
The head of Transició Ecològica has assessed the positive environmental impact of the proposal, at the same time recognizing the need to address an energy transition that cuts the bill in a situation of skyrocketing prices: “We not only aspire to reduce the receipt, but we can already quantify a direct saving of 34 million euros in emission rights, from which biogas is exempt”.
To implement the Valencian Biogas Route, the department headed by Mireia Mollà has requested 300 million euros of Next GenerationEU funds, which will be added to the 150 that the Generalitat will contribute and 50 more from the private sector.
Total, it is intended to generate a global investment of 500 million euros that will allow the construction of a hundred public and private production plants and maximize the possibilities of a mature but little-used technology at state level.
The Valencian Biogas Route has the support of the studies carried out on the potential of the valorization of waste from sewage treatment plants, manure from the livestock sector, herbaceous residues, waste from the agri-food industry and organic waste available on the website of the Ministry-