Gas advocates are calling on Victoria to grow the state’s capacity to produce biomethane as a cleaner alternative to the fuel, citing a report that estimates it could shore up to a fifth of the state’s demand.
The report found Victorian data was of lower quality than other states, but estimated about 18.8 petajoules of biomethane a year could be harvested from feedstock around the group’s network of pipes and infrastructure. Feedstock includes agricultural waste such as animal manure or straw, as well as waste from urban and industrial areas.
Biomethane has been touted by the gas industry as a renewable alternative to the fuel that can also help with waste disposal. It upgrades biogas created from the digestion of organic plant and animal products to meet gas quality standards., where it is forecast to be required long-term, particularly for industrial users.
Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the government was focused on scaling up biomethane and renewable hydrogen across the state, establishing new industries and jobs. “Most of the ways we use gas in Victoria are just really inefficient compared to electric alternatives, so there’s a lot of gas that we’re using that we really don’t need to,” she said.Lucas-Healey said it was better to focus on electrification than alternative gases. She said some of the challenges in scaling up biomethane had centred around attracting investment and paying for classification and disposal of public waste.