If Ukraine reaches 20% of the European biomethane market, we will become the main supplier to the EU
Georgii Geletukha spoke about this in an interview with DW, adding that this situation is similar to when russia was the main supplier of natural gas. Now biomethane is replacing natural gas, and the aggressor with it.
The YouTube channel “DW Ukrainian” released an interesting episode about Ukrainian biomethane, in which production companies and experts shared their current opinions.
Among them:
- Oleh Riabov, Head of Renewable Energy at Gals Agro agricultural holding.
- Serhii Kravchuk, CEO of Gals Agro agricultural holding.
- Volodymyr Ivakhiv, Head of Renewable Energy Projects at Vitagro Group.
- Georgii Geletukha, Chairman of the Board of UABIO.
Video from DW Ukrainian
Gals Agro
“This is a market for raw material owners. Feedstock that cannot be transported over long distances, so we need to produce biomethane locally. It can either be supplied to the grid or liquefied for export”, says Oleh Riabov.
The company representatives also spoke about the production of biogas and its upgrading to biomethane. They shared their plans to export products and memories of the start of the plant’s operation during the full-scale invasion.
“It was very difficult, but we were focused. We realized that we could not stop, because we would lose the team, positions, and people. Fortunately, we did not lose people – all our specialists remained with us. Yes, it was hard, and even now I don’t want to recall it”, says Serhii Kravchuk.
Gals Agro started producing biogas back in 2018. The company has already installed a post-treatment module to upgrade the produced biogas to biomethane. The company is currently storing all its products in underground gas storage facilities and plans to start exporting biomethane abroad in the near future.
Vitagro
The company became the first exporter of biomethane from Ukraine back in February this year. The first batch was shipped via Slovakia to Germany.
“This experience of test deliveries, both from our company and from another producer, is now the basis for the EU’s agreement on Ukraine’s accession to the so-called Union Database (UDB),” said Volodymyr Ivakhiv.
The Vitagro representative emphasizes that Ukraine is currently in the final stages of negotiations with the EU to become a member of this important system. Thus, Ukrainian producers will be able to transfer their certificates to this database on a par with EU companies.
Volodymyr Ivakhiv also cites some difficulties in exporting biomethane, such as the need for a Ukrainian producer to additionally play the role of a trader.
UABIO
“The biomethane market is a scarce market: supply is less than demand. The demand itself was created, in fact, by EU politicians and their desire to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050″, Georgii Geletukha.
The expert emphasizes that by 2050, the EU will need to replace hundreds of billions of cubic meters of natural gas with a renewable analog. The UABIO Chairman of the Board notes that this is a feature of the scarce market, as all produced products will be gladly bought.
“In 2050, when Europe begins to completely abandon natural gas, Ukraine will be able to provide 20% of the EU’s total biomethane needs. This is approximately the share that russia currently has in the natural gas market”.
