Biogas Ecosystems - Three Planning Phase Cases in Finland

Between the positive attributes of biogas, national and international goals for biogas promotion, and the current modest production and utilization rates, a clear discrepancy can be seen. Partly, this can be explained by small energy densities and scattered locations of biogas feedstock, which require especially careful planning in order to make a profitable production system. In addition to this, the end-use of the digestate needs to be planned. In order to create a complete cycle, a collaboration of multiple different actors, an industrial ecosystem, is typically required. These systems are unique and case specific, which makes creating them challenging. In order to understand biogas ecosystems, their formation and actors were studied in this thesis. The thesis studied three promising biogas ecosystems located in central Finland that were in a planning or developing phase. Information was gathered primarily by focus group interviews, inviting possible actors from each case ecosystem in a group interview. The interview material was interpreted with the help of industrial ecosystem and socio-technical transition theories. The goal was to find out the drivers behind biogas ecosystem actors, recognize possible patterns for biogas ecosystem formation, and find other means for biogas ecosystem promotion. Despite the differences between the researched ecosystems, surprisingly similar drivers behind the actors could be found. The most prominent driver in every ecosystem was environmental protection: emission reduction, nutrient recycling and water protection. Other recognized common drivers were ready gas infrastructure, increasing local production and reducing import dependency, and advancing technological development. No ready recipe for ecosystem formation could be found, which is in line with previous research. However, some elements for furthering the ecosystem formation were recognized: suitable location and land use planning, similar values and goals of different actors, and an active system builder that progresses the project and inspires other actors. In addition to these findings, it was noted that shielding measures for biogas should be recreated: the current shielding measures should be made more flexible, and the shielding measures should be targeted more diversely towards different aspects of the technological regime