Waimes

Today the injection of bio-methane gas into the regular gas grid in Wallonia (Belgium) is still unregulated and unexisting. To further investigate the potential of bio-methane gas, the Walloon government decided to finance the preliminary studies of 3 pilot projects within the region. One of these projects is the one in Waimes. The project has been studied by a private project developer (Mobilae SPRL) who came to the conclusion that 25.000 tonnes of slurry and 2.000 tonnes of grass could potentially produce 6.850 MWh of bio-methane gas. Mobilae SPRL decided to open the project to farmers, the municipality and local citizens. The latter would occur through the local cooperative Courant d’Air. 

The first studies were done by mid-2016 but the results were not that positive. Because of its small size and the low gas output from slurry, the project needed too much support to be financially viable. The local government therefor decided not to support it. Despite that decision, Courant d'Air and Mobilae are still convinced that the project makes sense: they argue that it is important to make the choice for small and local projects because they have much more respect for the existing realities in agriculture (and forestry) and because small project tend to look for the best solutions when it comes to energy efficiency. Furthermore the methane gas generated from slurry is 25 times more harmful for our climate than CO2. Not using this gas can't be justified from an environmental point of view. Hence, it is important that EU policy makers and local authorities provide a level playing field for small and local biomass projects.