Denmark’s Biogas Milestone Gets Costly

For one day in early July, Denmark produced enough biogas to cover all its national gas consumption, a first for the country (BT). Biogas now accounts for roughly 40% of Denmark's annual gas use. The record was reached because two trends met: renewable gas production kept increasing, while gas demand kept falling as fewer Danish homes and factories use gas for heating. It is a real achievement, but one built on favourable ground: Denmark's gas market is already small, and it is shrinking.

For Malta, the Danish case is useful precisely because it should not be copied blindly. We do not have Denmark's agricultural base, gas grid or heating profile. But the political lesson travels well: green gas works best when it replaces fossil gas in uses that are hard to electrify, not when it becomes an excuse to preserve infrastructure that consumers no longer need.

From Manure to Pipeline

The technology itself is not new. Bacteria break down organic waste, including manure, food scraps and sewage, without oxygen. That process produces raw biogas. Once carbon dioxide and impurities are removed, the result is biomethane, a gas clean enough to enter existing pipelines (IEA). Denmark's grid operator, Energinet, uses certificates to track how much renewable gas enters the system. The molecules mix in the grid; the certificates do the accounting (Energinet).

This matters well beyond Denmark. After Russia cut gas supplies in 2022, the EU's REPowerEU plan set a target of 35 billion cubic metres of biomethane by 2030 (REPowerEU). The logic is simple enough: gas made from local waste cannot be switched off by a foreign supplier. Unlike wind or solar electricity, biomethane can also be stored in existing infrastructure and used in sectors where electrification remains slow or expensive, such as high-temperature industry or older buildings (European Commission).

That is the strategic appeal. For small states, including Malta, it is also the warning. Energy resilience is not only about producing more of something at home. It is about deciding where a scarce domestic resource actually belongs.

The Bill Lands on Remaining Gas Users

The clear winners are farmers running digesters, project developers and gas-grid operators. Households benefit indirectly through greater energy resilience. They can also lose directly.

Biomethane is expensive to produce. In most countries it relies on guaranteed purchase prices, funded through gas tariffs or public budgets. As gas consumption falls, the cost of maintaining pipeline networks is divided among fewer users. France's energy regulator, CRE, raised the regulated gas distribution tariff by 5.87% from 1 July 2026 (CRE). Le Monde described the mechanism plainly: consumption is falling faster than the network is shrinking, so each remaining customer pays more to keep the pipes running (Le Monde).

Danish households face the same squeeze. Even as the grid becomes greener, prices still follow international wholesale gas markets, because biomethane enters the same commercial system as fossil gas. One Danish report found that households with gas boilers were already paying 5,000 kroner more per year than before the 2022 price shock (Ritzau). Green molecules do not automatically produce cheaper bills.

Germany makes the point sharper. A Fraunhofer ISE study found that gas heating with rising shares of green gas could cost up to €49,000 more over 20 years than a heat pump for a typical detached house (Energie & Management). That does not make biomethane useless. It shows that biomethane is too scarce and too costly to keep millions of homes tied to gas. Its value lies in specific industrial processes, backup supply and buildings that are genuinely hard to convert.

A Record Built on Favourable Ground

Denmark's milestone reflects decades of farm-biogas investment in a small gas market. Most of Europe is nowhere near that point. Ireland, for instance, has a target of 5.7 TWh of biomethane by 2030, but only two plants injecting into the grid, producing roughly 75 GWh a year. That is less than 1.5% of its target (We Are Biogas).

The lesson from Denmark is real, but conditional. Biomethane works when it is paired with falling gas demand and a clear decision about where scarce green gas should go. The risk is that records like this are turned into a political argument for keeping gas infrastructure alive, even as fewer people need it. When that happens, the cost of keeping the pipes open lands on whoever is still connected.