GIE study maps out infrastructure needs for biomethane integration

In recent years, the biogas sector, particularly biomethane, has become one of the EU’s key players in accelerating the environmental transition, increasing energy efficiency and resilience and reducing geopolitical tensions caused by fossil fuel imports. On 23 May 2025, the first-ever Budapest Biogas Summit will take place at the MOL Campus (Budapest, Hungary), bringing together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators to discuss the growing potential of biogas and biomethane and their role in the energy transition.

GIE has published a new study, which provides a detailed analysis of the gas infrastructure the European Union will need to integrate increasing amounts of biomethane into the energy mix. The study’s base scenario draws on estimates from a recent report of the European Biogas Association, which projects that Europe could produce 111 billion cubic metres (bcm) of biomethane by 2040. The vast majority of this biomethane (98 bcm) is assumed to be injected into the gas grid.

By 2040, total gas demand could reach 240 billion cubic metres per year, according to the scenario in ENTSOG and ENTSO-E’s Ten-Year Network Development Plan 2024. This would mean that biomethane fed into the network could account for 41 per cent of the gas mix.

The analysis covers four different types of European regions with varying gas demand and supply profiles, which could require up to 8.9 gigawatts (GW) of transport capacity for biomethane alone.

Examples of high demand and supply regions are located in Northwest Europe, while industrial gas demand regions are found in France, Spain, and Italy. In Central and Eastern Europe, electricity production-focused regions are featured, while net supply regions occur in rural areas, such as parts of Sweden and Romania.

The required withdrawal rate for biomethane in a situation of high demand for heating and dispatchable power is 184 GW across the EU. This peak withdrawal in 2040 would represent 40 per cent of the most recent natural gas peak withdrawal, recorded in 2018.

The study predicts that the role of gas will change by 2040, with a greater share used in non-seasonal demand sectors such as industry and transport. However, gas use in heating and power generation will still require significant storage capacity. The future demand for biomethane in these two sectors is expected to require about 183 terawatt-hour (TWh) of gas storage in the baseline scenario, equivalent to approximately 18 bcm of methane storage. Meeting this need would require almost 20 per cent of today’s gas storage capacity to be dedicated to biomethane by 2040.