Lukas Scholz and Andreas Meyer-Aurich
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim
(ATB)
Dieter Kirschke
Humboldt University of Berlin
This study analyzes the greenhouse gas mitigation potential and corresponding mitigation costs of biogas production in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. The production of biogas is based on cattle slurry and maize (Zea mays L.) and is used to produce electrical and thermal energy. The impacts of the feedstock and storage facilities chosen, thermal energy use, and land use change on the mitigation potential and the mitigation costs were analyzed by evaluating different scenarios.
In the scenarios analyzed we found greenhouse gas emissions between 0.1 and 0.4 kg CO2-eq/kWhel, which is 22-75% less than the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the present energy mix in Germany. CO2-mitigation costs differ between 288 and 1,135€/t CO2-eq in the scenarios observed. Those costs are influenced by the variability of different substrates, utilization schemes, and the price development of one possible alternative means of production under consideration, namely wheat.
Key words: Bioenergy policy, CO2-mitigation costs, GHGmitigation potential.