A study of the economic efficiency of German biogas plants in the context of Hungarian price conditions

Fuchsz, Máté

Keywords: alternative energy production, biogas plants, economic efficiency, model plants, legal regulation

In the light of current legal regulations it was our aim to examine the size limits and associated electrical output of biogas plants, which make biogas production economically efficient. To this end we compared the economic efficiency of different sized model plants in Germany, taking into account Hungarian operational costs and income. Following the amendment of the Electric Power Law, the starting delivery price of electric current produced from renewed plants is 23 Ft/kWh. The law guarantees the delivery price of electric current until 2010. This does make the long-term, secure planning of investments possible. Beyond a guaranteed delivery price, the economic efficiency of biogas plants is also determined by the cost price of materials used in the fermentation process.

Using dynamic economic efficiency indicators we arrived at the conclusion that biogas production could be economically efficient in Hungary above a 500 kW electrical output. Plants with smaller outputs (100 and 300 kW), which were examined, were found to be unprofitable due to high investment costs and relatively low income streams.

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