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Türkiye is preparing to export biomethane produced from organic waste to European markets after Turkish firm Biotrend and German energy company Uniper signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore converting biogas plants to biomethane production.
"By supplying biomethane from Türkiye, we can contribute to Germany reaching its decarbonization targets," Uniper CEO Michael Lewis told Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).
Türkiye's biomethane potential is estimated at up to 50 terawatt-hours a year. Biomethane, a renewable gas with properties similar to natural gas, can be transported through existing pipelines, offering Türkiye a new route to supply Europe's energy transition.
The memorandum, signed at the Türkiye-North Rhine-Westphalia Business Forum, will examine converting Biotrend's existing waste-based biogas plants to biomethane production, developing new capacity and delivering the gas to Europe via Türkiye's natural gas grid.
Biotrend is part of Doganlar Holding.
Biomethane is produced by purifying biogas from organic waste of impurities such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and moisture.
Doganlar Holding Group CEO Hakan Goral said Biotrend has an annual biomethane production potential of about 1.4 terawatt-hours across its plants as of the first quarter.
"Our priority is to carry out a gradual transformation that preserves existing infrastructure as much as possible, starting with the plants with the highest biomethane potential," he said.
In the first phase, Biotrend will conduct feasibility studies on its plants' technical and economic suitability.
"We will evaluate not only biogas production capacity but also factors such as the treatability of the gas, the location of the plants, the characteristics and continuity of the feedstock, existing infrastructure conditions, carbon intensity and compliance with sustainability criteria accepted in our country and in Europe," Goral said.
The second phase would launch pilot and commercial-scale upgrading, carbon dioxide separation and certification infrastructure at selected plants, while the third would bring the biomethane to suitable markets, drawing on Uniper's European trading experience, he said.
"We are exploring whether it is possible to bring biomethane from Türkiye to Germany. It is a very important step forward," Lewis said, adding, "We need to clarify some regulatory issues as well as commercial and technical matters."
"We are still at the beginning of the road, but we think there is significant market potential in the long term. We do not want to talk about figures right now," he said.
"Ultimately, it will be a matter of importing biomethane from Türkiye to Europe. The final destination will be Germany or the European Union," Lewis said.
He added that biomethane can be injected into existing gas pipelines but volumes must be verified through certificates, and that the project is at the conceptual stage with no timeline yet.
"In line with our 2040 carbon neutrality target, we aim to build a biomethane value chain extending from Türkiye to Europe and the world, with verified sustainability and traceability," Goral said.
"We will have contributed to the implementation of a new circular economy model that evaluates Türkiye's existing organic waste and biogas potential not only in electricity generation but also in renewable gas conversion," he added.
Goral said exporting the biomethane to Europe will depend on four main areas: technical suitability, sound operating principles, legal infrastructure and sustainability certification.
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