BiogasNatur

The BiogasNatur project aims to demonstrate options of how observed intensification of land usage from growing energy plants on arable land can be reduced by using residues, gramineous green waste and cuttings from landscape management. The premise is that nature conservation requirements for grassland use defined in the project will be complied with.

The aim is to find an answer to the question of whether, and if yes via what regulatory approaches the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) or other refinancing options could in future make a contribution to a nature conservation optimisation of grassland and other valuable nature conservation areas, and what associated consequences arise for system operator and nature conservation interests on the areas in question.

The answer to the above-mentioned question is provided based on the example of several EEG biogas plants which are representative of the stock of biogas plants in Germany. Plants were selected based on a national evaluation of the pressure on land caused by cattle farming and by the existing biogas plants. The systematic selection of the plants is aimed at ensuring the transferability of the project results.

Based on the selected plants, practical operating concepts were developed for the use of gramineous green waste and material from landscape management in particular. This is achieved in a multi-stage iterative process in which the potential plant concepts are evaluated both from a business point of view and from a nature conservation one. In addition to stakeholders from the sample regions, a range of experts were involved, including those from the fields of nature conservation, landscape management, bioenergy, policy and administration.