Biomethane revolution: how Ukrainian farmers are changing the energy map of Europe (continuation)

IA “FACT” already wrote, that Ukraine can turn farmers into gas suppliers for Europe thanks to biomethane, which is produced from manure, pulp and food waste. The first factories are already operating, and even Poland is lagging behind. Biomethane is not just a “green” trend, but an export product with a price of up to €1,500 per 1,000 cubic meters. The potential is 20 billion m³ per year, which opens the way to energy independence from Russia. But the main thing is a new strategy: it is profitable to produce near the pipes, and not where the soil is better.

But despite technical developments and legislative changes, the state has not yet proposed either a system of incentives or a strategy for the internal market. The entire breakthrough is on the shoulders of farmers who are looking for money, pipes and buyers themselves. While farmers are building the energy front, the state has to keep up with this movement.

Biomethane as an environmental weapon: how Ukrainian farmers reduce emissions and break the logic of fertilizers from a bag

Manure on a farm is not just a smell. This is methane, the most dangerous greenhouse gas, 25 times more powerful than CO₂. In open storage, it calmly evaporates into the atmosphere, accelerating the climate catastrophe.

But what does a biomethane plant do? He closes this process in a reactor, where bacteria ferment waste, releasing methane in a controlled manner — and that methane becomes energy, not an atmospheric threat.

Biomethane has the same characteristics as natural gas. It can be pumped into a pipe, burned in boilers, converted into heat or electricity. In the agricultural sector, where coal and diesel boilers still operate, biomethane is a revolution. For example, the company “Gals Agro” already warms up own complexes with biomethane and sells the surplus to the network.

This means not just a reduction in emissions, but a way out of the energy dependence of the agricultural sector. Plants do not leave waste after fermentation. They receive digestate — residues after biogas fermentation. It is a living humus full of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements.

And this is not mineral fertilizer from a bag, brought for currency, but fertilizer from the field, which is returned to the field. Thus, in the Vinnytsia region, farmers have already completely abandoned nitrate fertilizers, using only digestate.

Biomethane is not just about reducing emissions. This is a shock wave to the system, where everything depended on imports, gas monopoly and chemical industry. This is clean air, less CO₂, less chemicals in the fields, less methane in the atmosphere.

Biomethane: when a village becomes an energy hub and a growth point for the country

When it seems to us that the war is going on only at the front, we do not see another battlefield: energy. Where yesterday there was silage, manure and beets, today a plant is being built that pumps gas to Europe. But the main thing is that life is pumping into the Ukrainian village.

This is not a “state program” where the creation of one place costs a million. This is a real working farm factory. Vitagro company in Khmelnytskyi region invested 6 million euros in a biomethane plant and already today it gives jobs to local people, provides infrastructure and starts the economy.
This is the beginning. Within the BIOMETHAVERSE project, in which Ukraine also participates, until 2030 predict creation of almost 300,000 “green” jobs.
Ahead are going Chernihiv enterprise Hals Agro with the first launches of biomethane production, Khmelnytskyi company Vitagro with exports through the GTS, MHP (Dnipropetrovsk region) with large-scale investments in renewable energy. In this year will be at least four more new plants.

Increasingly, the question of farmers is not “which corn to sow?”, but “where to join the GTS?”. This is a thinking hack. Small farmers unite, studying the energy market. Because whoever has manure, pulp and grass, he can have gas, heat and independence.

Where a farm was destroyed yesterday, today European flags are hoisted. Because Ukrainian gas went to the EU with manure. And in the village this is not just a fact, but a change of the future.

This means a salary not of 9,000, but a market salary, young people do not run away because they see prospects, a cooperative is not a “scoop”, but an energy PE. And if the state sees in this not a “pilot”, but a national model of regional recovery, we will get a new Ukraine. Where energy is not imported, but grown.

Ukraine overtakes Poland on the biogas curve: who will lead the way in Europe’s green energy sector

We are used to thinking that Europe is ahead, and we are catching up with it. But in the biomethane sector, everything is not like that. Ukraine is not catching up, but has already overtaken, and not anyone, but Poland. This is a new configuration of forces on the energy map of the continent.

Poland, a member of the EU, with billions of euros in subsidies, until now didn’t launch no biomethane plant. While 3 plants are already operating in Ukraine, at least four more will be launched in 2025, and the first export agreements with the EU have already been concluded.

Why? Because we are not in comfort, but in survival. And Ukrainian farmers do not wait for grants from Brussels, but install the installation with their own money, look for a pipe and breaking through market.

In most EU countries, biomethane is another project, rather than a product due to excess natural gas, slow red tape and lengthy approvals. Everyone wants to be “green”, but not everyone is ready to turn off comfort and turn on the initiative. But in Ukraine it has already become a matter of national security.

France has a complex permitting process. In Germany, the market is saturated, and there is competition for raw materials. As for the competition, Germany has more than 200 biomethane plants, but most of them work for the domestic market, France actively invests in biogas, plans a mass launch by 2030.

As for partnership, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria are looking for cheaper green gas, they have infrastructure, but there is a lack of raw materials. Italy is a big buyer of biomethane, interested in imports from Ukraine, especially after the diversification of gas routes.

Ukraine has become a laboratory of survival – and that is why we have become an example for those who are still waiting for permission from Brussels to start acting. Our farmers, without the “support package”, are already selling gas to Europe. And there are still European ones write strategies.

Biomethane in Ukraine: risks and barriers on the way to energy independence

Biomethane is considered a new weapon of energy independence. But in this war for Ukrainian gas from beetroot and manure, there are not only prospects, there are enemies – visible and invisible, from within and without.

The Ukrainian agricultural sector is a battlefield not only for the harvest, but also for property. And if a farmer has a plant worth 10 million euros, manure, raw materials and a pipe nearby are a treat. And today, the owners of biomethane plants do not talk about it publicly, but everyone protects the assets as if they were on the front line. And while there is no special legislation to protect the green generation, the risk of raider attacks exists constantly.

In order to connect to the pipe, farmers go through technical conditions, agreements, acts of acceptance, and all this drags on for months. The head of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, Heorhiy Heletyukha, directly he says: “Bureaucracy kills speed. In wartime, it’s a crime.”

On the one hand, a full-scale invasion did biomethane is a matter of survival. On the other hand, an investor is afraid to invest in a village where a siren sounds. Business weighs the risks: invest €10 million in a plant in Chernihiv region or wait? And while there is no state insurance of risks, part of the projects hangs in Excel tables, and not in the ground.

While we are building factories, the aggressor is sowing doubts in Brussels, Berlin and Warsaw. Theses about “unverified Ukrainian biomethane”, “low accounting transparency”, “risks for the EU energy balance” appear in the press.

This is an information campaign aimed at disrupting the European recognition of Ukrainian certificates of gas origin. And if we fail build transparent accounting, certification, control, it will be an energy setback. We simply will not be allowed into the single EU gas market.

Today, biomethane is not just a technology. This is a battlefield where the players are not only farmers and investors, but also raiders, officials and the aggressor country. And if we don’t let’s create systemic defense — from asset security to political lobbying in Europe — will get us out of this game. Not because of gas, but because of unpreparedness.

So the next time you hear “green energy”, don’t think of the sun, but primarily manure, a pipe, papers and a machine gun. And the fact that Ukraine is already at the forefront — not only in the East, but also on the energy front of Europe.

Ukraine and biomethane: 10 years to a breakthrough or another lost chance?

While European capitals are signing declarations on the “green transition”, Ukrainian farmers are launching installations that already today provide gas, fertilizers and jobs. But the main issue is not in attitudes, but in ambitions. And whether the state will support the breakthrough that has already begun.

According to the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, already planned construction of more than 30 biomethane plants with a total capacity of more than 220 million cubic meters per year. And this is just the beginning. By 2030 potential production — 1 billion cubic meters, and by 2050 — from 6 to 22 billion. This is more than Ukraine imported from Russia until 2014. This is a revenge on the energy front.

So far, all export contracts are a step towards Europe. But is the state ready to create an internal market? The answer so far is no, rather than yes. Law No. 1820-IX and Resolution No. 823 give legal basis, but there is no real demand from state-owned companies.

This means: factories are built by private individuals, gas goes to the EU, and Ukraine remains a buyer of imports, despite its own production. This is a paradox. And this is a failure of politics, not technology.

Ukraine has everything: biomass, agricultural manure, developments, examples (the same Hals Agro, Vitagro and MHP). There is only one question: will the state support technological production, certification, personnel training, R&D? Are we exporting gas again and buying technology? In 2023-2024, the MHP company came out to a full-fledged model where biomass is not just a raw material, but a complex energy platform.

…10 years is not just a plan, but a window of opportunity that will either close or open a new sector. Biomethane is something that Ukraine can sell, produce, develop and lead in Europe. But if we do not create a domestic market, do not protect the investor, do not build training, we will be relegated to the role of a supplier of raw materials. That is, we went to the start. But victory will come if we build a system, not just a pipe to the EU.

Tetyana Viktorova