3rd Nordic Biogas Conference

Good afternoon and welcome to Oslo to everybody! I am happy to get a chance to address you on behalf of the Norwegian government. 

Biogas is a political issue in all the Nordic countries. However, it is been discussed from different starting points. With that I mean that the different countries have different energy supply and therefore different energy policies. On the other hand we have a common challenge in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

As you all know Norway export oil and gas, and we also export hydro electric power. That indicate that the there is little need for biogas for energy supply in Norway. Energy supply is therefore not the main focus in Norway. Our main focus is to increase the amount of renewable energy that can reduce Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions, and that biogas also is a treatment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from biowaste and animal manure. 

When it comes to agriculture and biogas, the other Nordic countries have probably got a little longer than we have in Norway at the moment. However we are very ambitious. 

In our white paper from 2009 “Climate change – agriculture a part of the solution” we introduce a goal for 2020 where 30 percent of the manure in agriculture should be used in biogas plants.

At the moment we have less than 1 percent, so this is ambitious. 

We have several challenges to solve:

• We need god cooperation between farmers and between farmers and the waste industry to make efficient plant structures. In this case Norwegian small scale agriculture is a challenge.
• We need efficient use of biogas to make it profitable.  
• We need the right solution for each plant. That might vary
• The size of plants will also vary according to the specific circumstances. 
• Distribution of biogas residues is also a challenge. Here agriculture is an important receiver. Here the Norwegian small scale farming can be positive.

All this challenges need steady and long term political and economic framework . That is MYchallenge.

The Ministry of agriculture will together with other Ministries look at the incentive structure for biogas in the near future. Doing this we will of course look at incentives in the whole value chain. 

• We need to make this interesting for each farmer. That indicates that we need incentives in the agricultural sector.
• We also need to stimulate cooperation between agriculture and the food waste or organic waste industry. I think links here can increase the value of the production for everybody, and it increases the chance for good use of biogas residues.

This is yours and mine immediate challenge. However, in the longer run we also need research and innovation.

• We need to cut costs in investments
• We need to cut costs in the production
• We need to use the biogas more efficiently
• And we need to ensure the biogas residue is handled more environmentally friendly.

Work like this seminar is therefore important. 

We need to create new solutions that can reduce costs and make biogas more profitable and even more environmental friendly. How we shall do this is something you need to try to answer the coming days. 

I therefore wish you good look with your seminar. This is important work for the future.