Injecting Green Gas into the Grid, Dutch Example

The paper discusses the technical options for injecting green gas (biomethane) into the natural gas grid in the Netherlands, and identifies the main criteria for choosing one option over the other. The paper subsequently argues that cost-efficiency is not always the main driving factor behind this selection. The authors further investigate the reasons behind this issue, and reach the conclusion that it is largely due to the design of the current regulatory framework. The lack of clarity in the current regulatory framework with regard to the roles and responsibilities of the market parties involved in the implementation of technical solutions, can in some cases lead to the selection of less adequate and non-optimal solutions. This could in turn lead to unnecessary costs and investments. The paper proposes the solution of altering the current regulatory framework, in order to increase the degree of cost-reflectivity for the green gas market as a whole in the choice of the technical options for injecting green gas into the grid in the Netherlands.