EU Renewable Gas Goals Won't Come Cheap

The EU is backing renewable gases like biogas, biomethane and renewable hydrogen to help decarbonize power, industry, buildings and transport sectors by replacing natural gas, and, to a lesser extent, coal and oil. But scaling up these markets will take significant investment and infrastructure, and it's unclear if there is sufficient policy support to achieve it. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, the EU has been looking to reduce reliance on Russian gas while improving energy security, which requires more homegrown, affordable energy. Under RePowerEU, the bloc has targeted biomethane and biogas production of 35 billion cubic meters per year by 2030 — almost double the 18.4 Bcm produced in 2021. Brussels has also set targets to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen by 2030 and import the same amount, up from a negligible amount produced now. It concedes that renewable hydrogen may not make a significant contribution before 2027 as the sector is in its infancy. Renewable hydrogen requires more state funding, research and development money, plus newbuild dedicated pipes or adaptation of existing gas networks to transport greener molecules. Where hydrogen imports come via green ammonia, there will be a need to modify regasification facilities to receive ammonia shipments.