Methane International

Issue 18, April 2010

SPECIAL EXPO EDITION

2009 Expo banner

Methane to Markets Partnership Expo a Great Success!

Ministry of Coal Ministry of Environmental and Forests Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

(from left to right) YK Modi, FICCI; D.N Narsimha Raju, Joint Secretary, Indian Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Woochong Um, Asian Development Bank; Dina Kruger, U.S. EPA; and Alok Perti, Additional Secretary, Indian Ministry of Coal assist in cutting the ribbon to open up the Methane Marketplace at the Partnership Expo.From March 2 to 5 2010, the Methane to Markets Partnership welcomed more than 500 project developers, financiers, policymakers, manufacturers, and government representatives to New Delhi, India. Attendees, representing 36 countries, met to promote methane recovery and use project opportunities and technologies.

YK Modi, past President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), gave opening remarks and welcomed attendees to the four-day event. Blair Hall, Minister Counselor for the U.S. Embassy in India, provided a brief overview of global climate change issues, followed by Dina Kruger, Acting Chair of the Steering Committee and the Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA's) Climate Change Division, who gave a State of the Partnership presentation (PDF, 19 pp, 472 KB).

The Expo's agenda (PDF, 23 pp, 144 KB) featured high-level plenary sessions, technical and policy breakout sessions, subcommittee meetings, and methane project site tours. In addition, each day began with a cross-cutting roundtable. The first roundtable focused on national methane policies, the second on financing mechanisms to support international methane project development, and the third on gas end-use technologies. The closing plenary session included concluding remarks from technical and policy sessions as well as a summary of Steering Committee decisions (PDF, 32 pp, 575 KB) from Dina Kruger.


New Directions for the Partnership

The Methane to Markets Steering Committee met on three consecutive days to revise the Partnership's current policies and make recommendations for future actions. Partners presented country statements and updates and subcommittee chairs reported on their progress. In addition, the Steering Committee:

The Steering Committee also developed a Charge to Subcommittees and Partners for Year VI (PDF, 6 pp, 94 KB). Copies of the discussion papers and meeting presentations will be available on the Methane to Markets Web site.

Participants walking through the Methane Marketplace.Methane Marketplace Overflows with Projects

More than 150 project opportunities and success stories from Partner Countries were showcased in two exhibition halls, dubbed the "Methane Marketplace" during the Partnership Expo. These project posters and flyers gave participants the chance to learn firsthand about project details and network with project representatives. The projects exhibited at the Partnership Expo have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. Rotating success stories featured at the Partnership Expo will soon be posted on the Methane to Markets Web site.

Sector Updates

Each subcommittee met during the Expo to discuss recent news and developments as well as determine future directions and actions.

Agriculture
Anaerobic digester at the Shri Krishna Gaushala in the Karera Village in Ghaziabad, IndiaThe agriculture sector activities included a site visit, technical and policy sessions, and a subcommittee meeting. For the site visit, participants visited the Shri Krishna Gaushala in the Karera Village in Ghaziabad, India. A gaushala is a sanctuary for old, sick, and abandoned cows. At the Shri Krishna Gaushala, there are 1,000 cows whose manure is processed in three onsite anaerobic digesters. Some of the biogas produced by the digesters provides electricity for the site; the rest is purified and bottled onsite for use offsite. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Exiting Global Methane Initiative developed and maintains the biogas purification and bottling system. Dr. Virendra Vijay from IIT hosted the site visit and provided an onsite presentation about the process.

Technical sessions included addressing financial and political barriers to implementing anaerobic digestion (AD), opportunities to use AD across the food and agriculture sector, and other agricultural sources of methane, such as enteric fermentation and rice cultivation.

The Agriculture Subcommittee met to determine its future work based on the input of the participants. Additionally, the subcommittee welcomed Anil Dhussa from the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Exiting Global Methane Initiative as a third Co-Chair. Participants also heard country updates, discussed international guidance to characterize the environmental performance of AD systems, and considered including sources of agricultural methane beyond manure into the work of the Partnership, including enteric fermentation and rice cultivation.

Coal Mines
Shi Shu of CISRO talks during the Coal Mine Subcommittee MeetingThe coal mines sector included a subcommittee meeting as well as breakout sessions that covered the current status and trends in coal mine methane (CMM) project development. The breakout sessions also covered technology development for both methane-rich gas and ventilation air methane (VAM), drainage and utilization best practices, and policies and regulation affecting CMM project development. Perspectives on policy, regulation, and overall development trends were provided for several countries, including Australia, China, India, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. Discussion also touched on carbon finance, specifically for CMM abatement.

Examples of technologies discussed included a fuel cell power plant in South Africa operating on coalbed methane (CBM), the potential for converting CBM or CMM to compressed natural gas to power the dual fuel engines of Indian railways, and various technologies for VAM utilization. Also notable was the recent release of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Exiting Global Methane Initiative Best Practice Guidance for Effective Methane Drainage and Use in Coal Mines, announced during the session on CMM best practices.

The Coal Subcommittee focused on the Steering Committee's charges discussed topics such as potential impacts for the coal sector of expanding Partnership to include methane abatement and flaring. There was also a leadership review that resulted in the promotion of Vice-Chair Dr.Huang Shengchu to Subcommittee Co-Chair. Additionally, representatives from Partner Country governments as well as the Project Network shared updates relating to CMM activities.

Landfills
Participants in the landfill site tour visited the Okhla Landfill in New Delhi.In the landfill sector, breakout sessions covered lessons learned in assessing landfill gas (LFG) project potential, methods for improving LFG recovery and site safety, and how to develop LFG projects. Especially exciting were presentations by representatives of Argentina and Ukraine discussing the success of their Methane to Market-supported LFG projects. In the three years since the last Expo, the Partnership has moved from discussing and planning projects to implementing demonstration projects!

Approximately 30 Expo attendees had the opportunity to visit the Okhla Landfill in New Delhi. The landfill is one of New Delhi's three operational dump sites and has been the site of pump tests conducted by the U.S. EPA. According to preliminary estimates, the landfill can produce nearly 2.7 megawatts of electricity.

During the Expo, the Landfill Subcommittee discussed activities for 2010, such as the development of a landfill biogas project best practices guide. Based on charges from the Steering Committee, they discussed where the new focal area of wastewater treatment should be incorporated into the Partnership Structure and if it is appropriate to expand the mission of the Partnership to include methane abatement (e.g., flaring of biogas).

Oil and Gas Systems
Carey Bylin, from the U.S. EPA, addresses the Oil and Gas Policy and Technical Session.The oil and gas systems sector included a Subcommittee meeting and technical and policy breakout sessions. These sessions addressed a variety of topics including proven technologies and practices that support verifiable emissions reductions, countries and companies addressing climate change through project development (including examples of projects that are part of the UNFCCC's Clean Development Mechanism Exiting Global Methane Initiative), and successful examples of international technology transfer. The presenters also expressed the need for new, standardized methodologies and training on how to apply them.

At the subcommittee meeting, participants discussed how to respond to the Steering Committee charge, engage more members in Partnership activities, identify country-specific content for the Web site, and identify and collaborate with programs that share Partnership goals.

Recent Developments

What's Next?

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