Renewable GasUnique Heat & De-carbonisation Opportunity for Ireland

18th May 2016

Ian Kilgallon – Innovation & Business Development Manager

Ian.Kilgallon@gasnetworks.ie +353-21-4534000

• Gas Networks Ireland owns, operates, develops

and maintains the natural gas network in Ireland.

• World-class Modern Gas Network

• Over 13,500Km:

• 2,422Km Transmission Network

• 11,288Km Distribution Network

• More than 675,000 gas consumers

• 650,000 homes

• 25,000 businesses

• Over 160 population centres

• 19 counties

Gas Networks Ireland

Renewable Gas – Circular Economy

Purification

~80-99% Methane

CH4

~1-19% Alkane Gases

~1-5% Neutral Gases

NATURAL GAS

30%-50% CO2

50%-70% Methane

CH4

-2% Trace Gases &

Water

RAW BIOGAS

98% Methane

CH4

~1% CO2 ~1% Trace Gases

RENEWABLE GAS

Renewable Gas Compatibility

~60-90% Methane

CH4~1-19% Alkane Gases

~5-20% Impurities

& HC

RAW FOSSIL GAS

5

• Mature and proven technologies – over 17,000

anaerobic digester have been built in EEA (2014)

• Transitioning from small remote electricity

generation to larger grid injection facilities

• State policies/prioritisation and incentives

transitioning to renewable gas for heat and CHP

consuming industries.

Renewable Gas in Europe

For the Customer: Renewable Gas will enable Industry in Ireland to achieve decarbonisation

targets, without the need to re-invest in alternative infrastructure.

For Security of Supply: Although GNI propose a target of 20% Renewable Gas by 2030, research

shows that Ireland has capacity to de-carbonise our entire gas demand.

For Ireland’s Agriculture

Sectors:

Reduce Agriculture GHG emissions by 20% by 2030, enhancing the premium

value of Irelands food produce, diversification of farm incomes, securing the

future of marginal agricultural sectors, and mitigate against food market price

swings.

For Ireland’s RES Targets: Making renewable gas available to large energy users will play a vital role in

helping Ireland meet its renewable heat (RES-H) targets of 12% by 2020, and

can supply 20% of Irelands Natural Gas demand by 2030.

Why Renewable Gas?

Research Challenge: Sustainability & Carbon Balance

• Biogas and biomethane produced from wet manure benefits greatly from the emission credits due to avoided GHG emissions

• Additional carbon credits come from improved manure management resulting in GHG savings (Total GHG savings up to 239% c.f. natural gas)

• Multiple options to achieve carbon saving targets, e.g.

‒ 100% Carbon Neutrality with 58% natural gas and 42% manure derived renewable gas

• Research Challenge: Define and Quantify Carbon Balance implications by feedstock, processing technology, and delivery method.

‒ Quantify the value of best practices

‒ Quantify the Carbon Savings/Credits

‒ Discourage bad practices

‒ Ability to Certify and Guarantee Origin

‒ Accreditation process & standards

Note: GHG emissions taken from EU JRC Science and Policy report on

“Solid and gaseous bioenergy pathways: input values and GHG

emissions”.

Available at:

http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/bf-ca/sites/bf-

ca/files/files/documents/eur26696_online_final_v3.pdf

-120

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

gCO

2/M

J

GHG Emissions from fuel sources

Manure Biowaste Maize whole plant Stemwood pellets Natural Gas

National GHG Emissions 2014

8

11.35, 20%

11.12, 19%

9.02, 15%5.70, 10%

1.57, 3%

19.38, 33%

Total National GHG Emissions 2014 (58.21 Mt CO2 eq)

Transport

Energy

Industry & commercial

Residential

Waste

Agriculture

Data Source: EPA (2015)

accessed on 13/05/2016 available at:

http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/air/airem

issions/GHG_1990-

2014_Provisional_11122015.pdf

Potential Irish GHG savings from biomethane

9

0

5

10

15

20

25

Agricultural Emissions (EPA 2014) Potential GHG Savings fromBiomethane (11.8 TWh by 2030)

GH

G E

mis

sio

ns

(M

t C

O2 e

q.)

Agricultural emissions are

composed of• Enteric fermentation (49%)

• Nitrogen fertilisers (36%)

• Manure Storage (12%)

• Energy (3%)

Estimated biomethane

resources by 2030• Additional grass (above

livestock demand)

• Agricultural manures

• Organic wastes and residues

• Additional sources (e.g. P2G)

Consumer

GNI currently facilitate a Secure & Competitive gas market

Gas

Transporter

Gas

Shipper/Supplier

Network Entry

Agreements

Gas Purchase

Agreement

Gas Code of Operations

Entry/Exit Arrangements

Gas Producer

Framework to enable renewable gas in the market

Consumer

Gas

Transporter

Gas

Shipper/Supplier

Network Entry

Agreements

Gas Code of Operations

Entry/Exit Arrangements

Gas Producer

Gas Purchase

AgreementRenewable Gas

Producer

Green Certification

• In addition to our plans around renewable gas, GNI has observed some interesting customer usage patterns that we feel merit further research

Residential / domestic sector trends:

• We have seen substantial decreases in annual consumption of gas (after temperature correction) over the last 8 years:

• 590,000 to 640,000 customers (+8%), whose annual consumption has reduced from 14,500kWh per average house to 11,000kWh (-25% or 3% per annum)

• As result the total aggregate gas demand has decreased by circa 1,500GWh (-18%) resulting in savings of approximately 300,000 Tonnes of CO2

Delivering efficiencies and carbon savings

Pre-Payment Metering (early generation smart meters)

• We have seen over 80,000 customers switch from credit meter to prepayment meters (or 'pay as you go' meters) (PPM)

• These meters now have an average annual consumption of 8,700kWh

• Annual consumption of PPM customers who had previously been on credit meters, has shown that these particular customers have reduced by 16% (versus a normal reduction of circa 3%)

• We have yet to determine if this increased reduction is due to fuel poverty or the increased awareness of energy consumption that comes with using a PPM

• Not all customers who switch from a credit meter to a PPM do so for financial hardship reasons, many switch due to lifestyle/household budgeting reasons.

• This is an area that we believe merits further research

Delivering efficiencies and carbon savings

• We believe that gas has a key part to play in helping

Ireland meet it's climate change targets through;

• More efficient use of the existing gas networks

• The deployment of more innovate technologies

• Facilitating and supporting an indigenous renewable gas

industry

• Secure, Reliable, Efficient, & Existing Infrastructure

• Over 50 optimum injection points for renewable gas

• Can deliver the same strong clean product, but now it can

be Green also

Capacity for more De-carbonisation of Heat & CHP