Gas quality plays a crucial role for the interoperability of gas systems and thus the free flow and trade of gas. Currently, there exist different natural gas qualities across Europe depending largely on the different sources of gas. Furthermore, with the declining European natural gas production and the expected increase in demand in the coming decades, Europe’s import dependency will most likely grow, particularly for power generation where natural gas has proved to be the cleanest, most efficient and versatile of all fossil fuels.
The interconnectivity of existing transportation systems, the ability of gas storage facilities to modulate demand and the ability to import LNG from a wide range of sources will all play very important roles in providing security of supply throughout Europe.
This existence of disparate gas qualities has received increased attention in the recent years mainly due to the integration processes of the European gas market. Moreover, with the envisaged development of renewable energy sources, including those in gaseous form such as biomethane, synthetic natural gasor hydrogen, the topic of gas quality will further gain in importance. It is worth noting in this context that biomethane is considered to have the highest potential impact in the energy mix in the nearest future, largely due to the political support that it receives.
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