The report, Market Data: Renewable Natural Gas, examines the global biogas market, focusing on four feedstock sources: waste, industrial, agricultural, and sewage. Policy issues and market drivers are detailed for each region. 

Often considered the cleanest renewable vehicle fuel in both the United States and the European Union, long-term growth of the biogas market will be dependent on a combination of technical improvements and an ability to develop untapped market opportunities. Some key findings of the report include raw biogas production capacity is expected to reach 2141 billion cubic feet per year by 2024, with global cumulative revenue from investment in biogas production capacity forecast to reach $25.8 billion.

According to the report, biogas remains a subsidy-dependent enterprise, and high growth in the short term will be limited to regions where policy support is already in place. Breakthroughs in feedstock conversion rates and innovations in control systems will be necessary in improving the competitiveness of biogas and unlocking the potential of higher-cost resources. 

“Biogas feedstocks are available worldwide, but logistical challenges in collecting, transporting, and handling these feedstocks makes them viable in only a narrow set of circumstances,” says Roberto Rodriguez Labastida, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “While projects using gas recovered from landfills are the cheapest source of renewable energy currently available, small-scale projects in more rural locations will need aggressive incentives to be competitive with other sources of energy.”