COUNTRIES SPLIT OVER PROLONGING COAL SUBSIDY

EU COUNTRIES failed this month to agree on planned new rules for the bloc’s power market, having clashed over a proposal to extend subsidies for coal plants under the reform, and a push to expand state aid for other power plants.

The EU energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg ended talks without a joint stance on the reforms that seek to avoid a repeat of last year’s energy crisis, when record-high gas prices left consumers with soaring energy bills.

The talks had been complicated by a late proposal by Sweden, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, to allow countries to prolong capacity mechanism subsidies for coal power plants that pay generators to keep capacity on standby to avoid blackouts.

Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch said ensuring Poland, which borders Ukraine, had stable power generation could help it support Ukraine with back-up power.

Poland, which gets around 70% of its power from coal, could prolong its support scheme for coal plants, potentially until 2028, under the proposal.

Countries including Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg had objected, saying the move would undermine Europe’s goals to fight climate change.

The draft proposal would allow capacity mechanisms to temporarily waive a CO2 emissions limit. | REUTERS

Researchers found digesting fish waste allows circular fish and vegetable farms (aquaponics) to produce biogas, which can then be fed back into the farms’ energy systems. This also provides excellent nutrition to the plants. File photo

BIOGAS CAN BE PRODUCED BY FISH FARMS – STUDY

ARESEARCH project at the University of Gothenburg has used waste to create biogas, which can help meet the energy needs of aquaponic farms.

Researchers found digesting fish waste allows circular fish and vegetable farms (aquaponics) to produce biogas, which can then be fed back into the farms’ energy systems.

This also provides excellent nutrition to the plants.

The study was published in the journal “Aquacultural Engineering”.

Aquaponics, or circular, land-based, combined fish and vegetable farms, is growing in popularity. Aquaponics uses nutrient-rich water produced by fish (aquaculture) to fertilise plants (hydroponics) in a closed, soil-less system with the help of bacteria that naturally grow within the systems.

The food production models mimic fertilisation in river and lake ecosystems.

Until now, fish solid waste was a byproduct with no particular value.

However, a research project at the University of Gothenburg has used waste to create biogas, which can help meet the energy needs of aquaponic farms.

“By breaking down fish faecal matter in an anaerobic environment –known as digestion – we can obtain a concentrated gas mixture of 70% methane that can be used as fuel. This can make aquaponics a source of energy,” said Victor Lobanov, a doctoral student of marine biology at the University of Gothenburg.

The study also shows that the nutrients released in the digestion of waste are more easily available for plants compared to synthetic nutrition solutions.

“Fish waste contains a lot of nutrients. These should also be usable in aquaponics to enable even more sustainable food production than today,” said Lobanov.

Another benefit is that carbon dioxide is produced when the biogas is used as fuel, which is a necessary supplement when plants are grown in an enclosed space, like a greenhouse.

For now, the digestion process has been tested in a lab environment, but a pilot in a commercial aquaponics facility is starting this year.

It will give researchers insights into how well the method can handle perturbations to the system and what needs to be done to create a more robust digestion pipeline. | ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL