The Organizing Committee is delighted to confirm a keynote speech by Dr. Biljana Kulisic.
Biljana Kulisic is a policy officer at the Unit C2 Decarbonisation and sustainability of energy sources within European Commission Directorate-General for Energy:
Biljana has over 20 years of experience in concerted policy and assessing socio-economic aspects of bioenergy. She is involved in IEA Bioenergy TCP since 2005 and was contracted as an independent expert for bioeconomy, bringing in the spirit of EU15 to the group, to the European Commission Directorate-General Research and Innovation 2020-2021. Since October 2022, she works as a policy officer at the European Commission, Directorate-General Energy: Decarbonisation and Sustainability of Energy Sources Unit, with biomethane, GHG emissions from biofuels pathways and general role of bioenergy within the energy and bioeconomy.
Before moving to Bruessels, she was a researcher, guest lecturer and assistant professor at the Faculty of Food Science in Osijek, Croatia, establishing the first bioeconomy specialist MSc in the country.
Her talk will be on “How science can help us produce more biogas at lowest social costs“
Biogas from anaerobic digestion is a mature technology yet it is not commercially viable. In the EU biogas production started booming only after placing policies supportive to biogas via Renewable Electricity Directive Directive – 2001/77 – EN – EUR-Lex, in the early 2000s.
Nowadays, the EU has the world’s most mature biogas market, greatly funded by the EU citizens and industry. From 2001 to 2023, biogas production has been increasing from 1.8 to 15.8 Mtoe, 100% own production, in about 20.000 plants. Producing biogas means improving homegrown energy resilience.
In 2011, the EU had about 12.000 operational biogas plants, producing about 8.7 Mtoe primary energy. Those plants are likely less efficient than the novel ones, and likely to be left out from the existing support schemes. Yet, they do have the permits, access to the electricity grid, road access and most of the relevant infrastructure that would be assigned under the CAPEX. About 85% of the biogas plants in 2011 are relying on feedstock (e.g. manure, waste, food waste, crops). Urban biogas plants (landfills and sludge from waste water treatment plants) have different design and need different approach for the business model. Biogas plant versatility, as well as supply chain optimization and monetizing biogas co-products: digestate and biogenic CO2, are reflected in the costs of production. How can science help those biogas plants with an obsolete plant design to continue production, at the lowest social costs?
The answers are collected and well placed in the biogas/biomethane tripartite contract, a new initiative of the European Commission announced by Commissioner Jorgensen on 05 September. The tripartite agreement stems from the Affordable Energy Action Plan, specifically Action 4: “Supporting diversification by demand aggregation and better use of infrastructure”. The concept is aimed to bring together the public sector, energy producers, and energy-consuming industries to counteract high energy prices and market uncertainty and thereby create a favourable investment climate, facilitating a competitive EU industrial sector, while ensuring the retention and creation of quality jobs. The tripartite contracts represent an innovative solution to tackle the barriers hampering the development of the biogas/biomethane market through a combined and collaborative approach.