Although Italy is the second European biogas producer after Germany, a great potential for biogas production and market expansion still endures, especially in central and southern regions. Non-technological barriers prevent a more widespread diffusion, in fact they are still critical.
ISAAC is a project funded by the European Horizon 2020 program whose main purpose was to remove non-technological barriers, such as low public acceptance, insufficient coordination for biogas facilities diffusion, regulatory inadequacies to support biogas/biomethane market penetration in Italy and to make plants implementation easier within the national context. In details the identified barriers were divided into SOCIAL (lack of information among citizens, farmers and breeders; NIMBY syndrome; fragmentation among different stakeholders), ECONOMICS (lack of specific and effective funding schemes; low profitability of small biogas plants and uncertainty on incentives) and LEGISLATIVE (lack of clear national legislation on biomethane and digestate; fragmentation of regulatory frameworks on permissions and installation procedures)
ISAAC's approach to overcome non-technical barriers:
• Organization of participatory processes in two pilot territories (interested in the realization of biogas plants) to build a common decision-making paradigm and prevent social conflicts. Plant visits have been organized as well.
• Organization of information campaigns and public meetings in seven Italian regions with experts to disseminate the correct information on the biogas production process and its environmental and economic benefits.
• Organization of educational tour, activity for high school students using an anaerobic digestion prototype and the release of a comic adventure on environmental topics.
• Use of a calculation tool to evaluate the availability of residual biomass and define the potential for biogas / biomethane production to reduce fragmentation between biomass and biomethane producers and highlight the benefit of collaboration to reach adequate plant size to maximize economic benefits
• Organization of training courses for municipal technicians to provide insights into technological, regulatory and authorization issues.
• Proposals of regulatory improvements on participatory processes, on by-products / co-products / waste exploitation and on biomethane use.
• Socio-economic studies on the development, impacts and acceptability of biogas and biomethane plants in specific territories.
The overall objectives of the project were:
O1. increasing of knowledge of the social, environmental and economic benefits associated with the production of biogas and biomethane.
O2. increasing of the public acceptance of biogas production with AD plants.
O3. reduction of the fragmentation between the farmers and the other stakeholders potentially involved in the construction of AD facilities.
O4. proposals to improve existing Italian regulations on biogas/biomethane.
O5. diffusion of tailored financing schemes to fund AD plants.
O6. improvement of local public administrations governance of bioenergy projects
