What is the Biogasregister?

Basics

The German Biogasregister is a platform for the standardized and simple documentation of proof of biogas quantities and qualities in the natural gas grid.

The Biogasregister is aimed at people who produce, trade or consume processed biogas, so-called biomethane or bio natural gas, which is fed into the natural gas grid.

Proof of the use of biomethane is documented in the German Biogas Register, in particular for

electricity and heat production (EEG)
heat production (GEG)

As a neutral stakeholder, the German Energy Agency (dena) operates the biogas register and provides a system with which biomethane can be certified and tracked from production to consumption.

Background to the Biogasregister

The German Energy Agency (dena) developed the concept for the German Biogas Register in 2009 with the support of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and in dialog with market participants and experts from politics and industry.

Since then, dena has operated the German Biogasregister as the register management organization.

Further information

Mention of the Biogasregister in the draft bill for the EEG 2012

Explicit mention of the Biogasregister in the explanatory memorandum to the draft bill for the EEG 2012:

Bundestags-Drucksache 341/11 on pages 144 and 179

Clearingstelle EEG

The Clearingstelle EEG explicitly mentions the mass balance suitability of the German biogas register:

Clearingstelle EEG: What is a mass balance system

BDEW and electricity grid operators

The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the German electricity grid operators recognize the biogas register for verification purposes.
The amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in 2009 brought an important change to the framework conditions for the use of biogas for electricity and heat production in Germany. Since then, in addition to on-site electricity generation from biogas, it has also been possible to upgrade biogas to natural gas quality and feed it into the natural gas grid. By trading, extracting and using the biogas elsewhere to generate electricity in combined heat and power plants, the EEG remuneration can also be obtained for the electricity produced from it.
A prerequisite for entitlement to remuneration is proof of the origin (including the raw materials used and technical standards for biogas production and processing) of the biomethane used that satisfies the system of the EEG. From the point of view of the electricity producer, reliable proof is required insofar as the EEG permanently excludes a plant operator from entitlement to remuneration as soon as no EEG-eligible biomass has been used to generate electricity at any given time. The EEG 2009 contains corresponding requirements for EEG documentation at the individual stages of the value chain, but does not define a standard or corresponding processes.