Factors for success in Swedish biogas
a study based on the Swedish agricultural sector
The energy sector of modern time is currently faced with several challenges. These are both production oriented and environmental oriented in nature. The energy of the future is intended to support an increasing demand while at the same time reduce its environmental affection. This stresses a development towards production methods of renewable energy. Among the existing methods, biogas is presented as an attractive alternative. Further, biogas is also perceived as an attractive business concept within the agricultural sector, since this sector contains a good supply of substrate that can be used in the biogas process. As an effect, biogas would enable renewable energy production in combination with biological waste treatment and thus there are several environmental benefits with using this method.
The potential for producing biogas in Sweden today, is relatively unexploited. Studies shows that there still is a large potential for producing biogas in Sweden, where a large share is represented by agricultural products. This study aims at identifying factors that are important for a further development in agricultural based biogas production. The study have been based on interviews with 31 agricultural biogas producers, where the findings has been analyzed using resource based view and Diffusion theory.
The study has shown that agricultural biogas production in Sweden needs to develop in order to become competitive. To enable such a development, factors such as support from external parties and investments in technological development is viewed as important.