 An agent-based spatial simulation to evaluate the promotion of electricity from agricultural biogas plants in GermanyG. Sorda, Y. Sunak and Reinhard Madlener Ecological Economics, 2013, vol. 89, issue C, 43-60 Abstract: In this paper we investigate how changes in the support scheme may affect electricity generation from agricultural Combined Heat and Power (CHP) biogas plants in Germany. An agent-based simulation model for investment decision-making is coupled with GIS data. The spatial-temporal diffusion model accounts for the limited availability of substrate resources, alternative plant sizes and different heat use combinations. For illustration, we apply the model to the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, for which we estimate an additional economical capacity potential of 409MWel. Overall, we conclude that current feed-in payments per unit of electric power provided are probably not too far off the optimum level, if one considers the maximum diffusion of CHP units possible. However, the current feed-in system may overtly favor small generating units, thereby failing to incentivize coordination among farmers for joint resource utilization in larger and more efficient plants. In addition, optimization of the biogas conversion process and feedstock use would also be highly beneficial. Keywords: Biogas; Technology diffusion; Agent-based simulation; GIS; Energy policy (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:89:y:2013:i:c:p:43-60 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.01.022 Access Statistics for this article Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier |
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