“Ignitis” is the first in Lithuania to import biomethane

According to Harold Nausėdas, a member of the board of Ignitis and head of business customers and development, biomethane is a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, which fully meets the standard of conventional natural gas. Its chemical formula is the same (CH4), but its extraction method is much more environmentally friendly. Biomethane can be used in the production of electricity, heating of buildings, and as fuel for vehicles. Companies that choose biomethane as an alternative can also increase their competitive advantage. Ignitis’ priority is to develop renewable energy products, so this first deal in our region is an important achievement and the opening of a new business niche that will become an important alternative to natural gas in the future.

“We will import biomethane from the Netherlands. Although it is available worldwide, the highest standards require the importing and exporting countries to be connected by a common gas network. This means that the biomethane molecule entering the gas network must be able to reach Lithuania and the customer’s gas consumption places. In this case, we will ensure the entire supply chain between the Netherlands and Lithuania. The gas will travel through the gas pipelines of the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Lithuania – quite complicated processes need to be controlled for this,” commented H. Nausėda.

According to Saulius Bilis, head of strategic development of “SG dujos”, with the possibility of importing biomethane, transport fleets using fossil gas (methane) can already completely replace it with zero CO₂ emission fuel.

“We aim to help the vehicle fleets we serve to adapt as quickly as possible to the Green Course established by the EU and start using only environmentally neutral fuel. Today we have a historic event, because starting this month our customers, most of whom are urban public transport fleets, use only biomethane. We hope that in the near future we will not only import biomethane, but also have biomethane plants producing it in Lithuania,” says S. Bilys.

Ignitis will supply the customer with biomethane in November and December, and is currently negotiating with partners and biomethane producers for uninterrupted biomethane supply in 2023 as well. The company hopes to be able to offer customers green gas produced in Lithuania next year.

Biomethane is extracted from natural materials or wastes that release many chemical elements as they decay. The gases released during the decomposition process are not released into the atmosphere, but are collected, cleaned and fed into the network. In this way, unlike extracting natural gas from the depths of the earth, a large amount of greenhouse gases does not enter the environment.

The world leader in biogas and biomethane production is Germany. According to the International Energy Agency, Germany had the largest share of installed biogas production between 2010 and 2018, and biomethane is produced from biogas.

Both “Ignitis” and “SG dujos” received ISCC certificates (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) during the development of biomethane trading activities this year, which are mandatory for biomethane trading.

Source here.