Biomethane/RNG business – does it make money?

The biomethane/RNG industry has been increasingly attracting investments. 2022 alone saw a threefold increase in M&A value in the industry compared to 2021 – mostly driven by the majors as part of their net zero strategies. Companies like Shell, BP, ENI are increasingly seeing biomethane as part of their integrated net zero solutions. And some governments are counting on biomethane to help reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonise sectors, build a circular economy and boost their energy security. But the industry has so far failed to scale up and justify its economics without governmental mandates or subsidies. So how does a biomethane business make money? What are the key sources of value in a biomethane business model? In this piece, we look at the key value streams of a business producing biomethane through the anaerobic digestion process and injected into the gas grid. We look at the key value sources in three countries – the US, the UK, and Denmark.