Policy instruments and their impact on renewable energies and the biogas sector in the European Union: analysing the interactions between promotion strategies, technology deployment, innovation and market development

Biogas stands as a renewable and carbon-neutral energy source of fast growing interest. The produced gas can be used for electricity generation, heat production or combined heat and power generation. It can also be upgraded to bio-methane for vehicle refuelling or to feed natural gas grids. Additionally, biogas plays an important role in the transition towards a more competitive, secure and sustainable energy system in Europe. It can contribute to reducing external energy dependency and tackle air pollution and greenhouse gases emissions, while having the potential to drive growth on innovative technologies within the renewable energies sector. Moreover, biogas production can be considered as an important aspect of the European Union’s policy for waste disposal, as biogas generation systems can be fed by different types of wastes from society and industry. Within this context, measures to promote the production of biogas have been implemented in the European Union and also in the renewable energy production strategies of most countries in Europe over the last years, according to specific policy drivers and support instruments. However, these have evolved differently in Europe over time and the amount of biogas produced as well as the means of production and utilisation of the gas vary significantly between countries. This is the result of different views of what the biogas should be used for and of the different approaches to policies and promotion strategies addressed by the different member States. This aim of this Master’s dissertation is to identify existing policy instruments and barriers for the expansion of the renewables and biogas sectors in the European Union. To investigate this, a comprehensive overview of the renewable energies landscape and biogas market status quo in Europe is carried out from an energy production and energy market point of view, but also from a technology deployment, innovation and market development perspectives, both on the EU level and at country scale. A review and analysis of the existing policies and strategies for renewables and biogas production and utilisation, with particular attention to the European electricity and heating energy markets, has been elaborated. Furthermore, investigation of the renewables and biogas sectors in three specific EU countries, namely the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Spain, is thoroughly addressed. Criteria applied for selection of these three country case-studies are, amongst others, geographical spread, differences in innovation performance and economic structure, differences in the energy mix and drivers for renewables, as well as other aspects of local nature. Cross-comparisons between the strategies of the country case-studies selected and results obtained are also analysed and discussed, in order to assess the impact of policy instruments approached, to identify which barriers may hinder the deployment and development of biogas and other renewable energy technologies and to conclude which factors may enable a more effective expansion of the renewable and biogas markets across the Union