PHB: Presentation of mass balance study for kerosene and gas delivery via interconnected infrastructure for transport

Background

On Thursday April 10^th, Platform Renewable Fuels organised a meeting in Den Haag to present the findings and recommendations from the Mass balance market research on renewable fuels for transport. Specifically, the cases of renewable gas and kerosene delivery via interconnected infrastructure was explored. The aim of the meeting was to share the main findings to a broader audience and discuss possible solutions to move forward.

Takeaways

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• Based on the findings of this study, the Platform recommends a harmonisation of mass balance rules for the delivery of renewable fuels on an EU-wide level for a future proof system.
• In the case of renewable gas and kerosene delivered in interconnected networks, applying mass balance rules to prove the sustainability and administrative delivery of volumes is possible under certain conditions:
  1. Sustainability information must be coupled to the proof of a physical renewable fuel volume being injected in the interconnected network. This is a good practice that is already used for the direct supply of biomethane and bioLNG to transport in the Netherlands which should be applied more widely in other Member States.
  2. One independent party must be appointed and specifically tasked with having an overview of the ingoing and outgoing flows within the interconnected network.
  3. Governments must agree on statistical transmission and where to administrate the carbon emissions reduction to avoid risks of double counting. This is especially needed when dealing with multiple frameworks with greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets on both EU and global levels with the Paris Agreement.
  4. Innovations in the ruleset must be sought to allow for interactions between different systems. This is especially relevant for interactions taking place in the production of fuels that combine multiple renewable inputs or have a number of conversion steps. For instance in the case of Power-to-X or RFNBO or when biomethane isused to produce biomethanol.  
• Overall, a harmonised system for mass balance on an EU-wide level should be realised which must be able to interact with other MS’s systems. Interoperability is key.

Follow ups

• These findings can be connected with the Clean Fuel Contracts where the sustainability information is coupled with the proof of physical injection in the interconnected grid  
• The platform will write a factsheet about mass balance and the findings of this study
• The Platform will investigate the implication of these findings for the bunkering of liquid biomethane for shipping sector and will continue this discussion with Platform members in a project group

Download

Find the full mass balance report by clikcing on the right hand side or here.

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