Technical Biogas Potential Bavaria

Biogas production from agricultural biomass is essential to the energy transition in Germany and Bavaria. Biogas is a storable energy source that can be seamlessly integrated into the existing energy infrastructure as upgraded biomethane. However, biomass is a limited resource, and energy production can compete with food or animal feed production. To expand biogas production, the EU Commission is therefore focusing on biomass not subject to competition for use in its REPowerEU plan.
The project "Technical Biogas Potential Bavaria" aimed to quantify the technical potential of agricultural biomass for biogas production in Bavaria. A high spatial resolution at the level of single municipalities was chosen to consider the low transportability of specific residues (liquid manure). In addition, the competition for the utilization of biomass was taken into account, as for the case of cereal straw, which can be used as bedding material for animals. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to address the uncertainty in the underlying statistical data, and a sensitivity analysis was carried out.
The results show that the untapped potential from agricultural biomass without competition for use is still relatively high, and that around 12 percent of the natural gas consumed in Bavaria could be replaced. The results will be published in the Bavarian Energy Atlas of the LfU: www.energieatlas.bayern.de.