Denmark pushes for more biogas plants on pig farms

For the next ten years, the Danish government plans to have at least 50% of all farm manure be used to make biogas.

 

To encourage this, the government will give 20% capital grants and high electricity prices where the current is supplied to the power network by the farmers.

 

This is pushed under the country's 'green growth' programme, in which biogas production is seen as an important tool in the reduction of climate-changing gases from Danish agriculture.

 

The government reckons that if 50% of manure from Denmark's 1.5 million cows and around 13 million pigs is fermented to gas,this could reduce the country's production of climate-changing gases by as much as 8%.

 

The 'green growth' programme is to be fully introduced next year and is Denmark's way of implementing EU climate protection and water biodiversity legislation.

 

Currently, Denmark has around 80 farms in the whole country with biogas plants out of around 5,500 pig production and 5,300 dairy farms. So far, Denmark has specialised more in centralised municipal or cooperative biogas plants where manure from farmers as well as industrial by-products such as slaughterhouse waste is processed. There are around 20 of these and the biggest plant processes manure from 60 farms with a delivery of 200,000 tonnes manure yearly.

 

Thorkild Q. Frandsen, chief biogas system adviser with the state agricultural advisory service Dansk Landbrugsrødgivning, said that''naturally, only a small percentage of Denmark's farm manure is processed so far. But under the 'green growth' programme the state wants to have more than 50% treated before 2020.''