Methanizers, large cylindrical tanks topped with a dome, produce biogas by fermentation of organic matter from waste. Still little known, they will multiply in the future.
The production capacity of gas from methanization should be established at 50 terawatt hours per year (TWh/year) in 2030 in France, compared to 12 at the end of 2023, announced GRDF, the main national gas distributor, a subsidiary of Engie, Thursday, April 4, during a press conference. From 3% at the end of 2023, the share of biogas in the networks would increase to 20% in seven years, reducing the share of fossil gas accordingly.
Methanizers transform organic matter into a residue called digestate, which serves as a natural fertilizer, and into biogas. The latter is purified, becoming biomethane, then injected into the network. On average, over the last five years, 115 sites have been connected to the distribution network; 92 are planned for 2024 and around fifty in 2025.
Local oppositions
“ The feed-in tariff was not appropriate. This slowed down the development of projects. The situation has normalized with the June 2023 revision », specifies Laurence Poirier-Dietz, general director of GRDF. A decree published in June 2023 increased the price paid to biomethane producers by around 12%. It also adopted the principle of two annual reviews instead of one previously.
These measures made it possible to revive the sector. Methanization today relies mainly on farmers. Alone or in groups, they represent more than 80% of the 652 production sites installed at the end of 2023. Other sectors are developing to recover sludge from wastewater treatment plants, waste in landfills as well as bio-waste from selective sorting. .
Another acceleration factor, the extension to individuals, the 1er January 2024, of the obligation to sort organic waste, provided for by the anti-waste law of 2020. GRDF estimates the potential for biomethane production from all biowaste at 20 TWh/year.
The introduction of biogas production certificates (CPB) should also boost the sector. The publication, expected this summer, of the decree setting the volumes of CPB that gas suppliers will have to purchase should trigger new projects, led in particular by energy companies such as Engie or TotalEnergies (formerly Total).
A potential also assessed at 20 TWh/year by GRDF, and relating to large installations, sometimes giving rise to local opposition. For example, Corcoué-sur-Logne (Loire-Atlantique), whose giant methanizer project saw its authorization refused by the prefecture in December 2023 following a public inquiry. Residents feared excessive truck traffic and leaks likely to cause air, water or soil pollution.
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