The European Biogas Association (EBA) has released its EBA/GIE Biomethane Map 2022-2023, revealing that Europe has upped its number of biomethane plants by almost 30% from 2021.

According to the report, Europe reached a total of 1,322 biomethane-producing facilities by April 2023, an increase of 299 compared to April 2021.

This has increased substantially from 2018, when the map reported just 483 total plants.

1,174 plants out of the total reported were located by the EBA and displayed on the map launched today.

Europe already produces over 3.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of biomethane, representing a production increase rate of 20% in 2021.

An even bigger increase is expected for 2022 where estimations confirm a significant rise in the number of plants and production shares.

Commenting on the ‘remarkable growth’ of biomethane production in the last decade, Harmen Dekker, CEO at the EBA, referred to the upwards trend, saying, “This sis a strong signal on the efforts of the industry to scale up production and push for further acceleration to reach the 35 bcm target by 2030 proposed by the European Commission in the REPowerEU plan.”

The data collected for the preparation of the map shows that over 75% of the current plants are already connected to the transport or distribution grids.

The EBA also revealed that the countries with the strongest growth in their biomethane production 2021 were France, Denmark and Germany.

In absolute numbers, the largest producers of biomethane in 2021 were Germany, the UK, Denmark, Frane, the Netherlands and Italy.

These numbers have been driven by the support of gas infrastructure operators which are working to upscale the biomethane economy.

“We acknowledge our mission to connect producers to consumers and will ensure that biomethane’s exponential growth keeps thriving,” said Boyana Achovski, Secretary General of GIE.

“Already today, we store and transport biomethane. It’s good to open the door for more renewable molecules to integrate Europe’s energy system.”

Biomethane can also be used to safeguard the EU’s energy security. The REPowerEU plan is also being used to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

According to the European Commission, 85% of Europeans believe that the EU should reduce its dependency on Russian gas and oil as soon as possible to support Ukraine.