Samenvatting

The amount of biogas produced in agricultural areas is expected to increase. The increasing number of local and regional initiatives show the growing interest in decentralized energy production. In these new developments biogas can play a role, as a producer of energy, but also in balancing the electricity grid. The transport of biogas from the digester to a place where heat is needed may increase the energy efficiency of the supply chain of heat and electricity. Collection of biogas from several digesters can also induce scale advantages in the further processing of the biogas. A model was developed to describe a regional biogas grid that is used to collect biogas from several digesters to a hub. The model includes a star lay-out and a fishbone lay-out of the grid. In a star lay-out the pipelines connect individually the digesters to the hub, while in a fishbone lay-out the biogas is collected in a main pipeline that leads to the hub. Minimal average costs for transport of one cubic meter of biogas from the digesters to the hub are calculated, as is the associate energy use. In addition the line-pack storage in the biogas grid can be quantified. Some results are presented.