Forum seizes the moment for biogas

Energy Minister Simon Watts (left) with World Biogas Association chief executive Charlotte Morton and GasNZ chief executive Jeffrey Clarke.

1 Aucust 2025

Biogas and biomethane’s potentially significant role in New Zealand’s energy system was reinforced – and endorsed by the Government – at the Biogas Bridge forum held in Wellington in July. 

Hosted by GasNZ and the Bioenergy Association of New Zealand, the two-day forum attracted over 130 participants from the energy, primary sector, waste and regulatory/government sectors. 

Summing up, keynote speaker Charlotte Morton, chief executive of the World Biogas Association, described the forum as “one of the most positive, constructive and useful conferences I’ve been to in the 15 years I’ve been involved in the sector”. 

While giving the opening address, energy minister, Hon Simon Watts, confirmed the government’s interest in, and commitment to, the development of a viable biogas market in New Zealand. 

"New Zealand is at a pivotal moment in its energy journey, with our natural gas reserves declining faster than what we thought," he said. 

"This is where local renewable and resilient solutions, such as biogas, can be part of supporting our energy security.” 

Watts said he had instructed officials - including those at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), the Ministry for the Environment and the Gas Industry Company (GIC) - to work on enabling a biogas market. 

"I have directed my officials to explore how Government can more strongly provide clear signals, and I hope to share something with you in the near future that will reinforce this commitment," he said. 

That work includes mapping the availability and cost of organic waste feedstocks for use in making biogas. 

"The work programme will provide a much-needed analysis of feedstock, volumes, energy potential, seasonality and future availability, alongside transport, logistics and existing outlet uses," he said. 

"I expect this work will be instrumental in supporting investor confidence to deliver clear, accessible insights through interactive maps, data downloads and stakeholder-focused reporting." 

GasNZ and the Bioenergy Association conceived of the event as a way to bring together key stakeholders, raise their level of understanding, identify barriers that are holding back biogas growth, and initiate action to remove those barriers.

One notable point of consensus came on day two when the attendees expressed near-unanimous support for some sort of biogas mandate to help drive increased investment and production.

Alzbeta Bouskova-Houghton, chief technical officer for New Zealand’s first and only commercial biogas/biomethane plant, Ecogas, said the forum “validates for me that now is the time”. 

“If we can’t pull it off now then I don’t know when we will, because we’ve got everything we need to make it happen. 

“We’ve heard from Minister Watts about the commitment from the Government. 

“We’ve heard from Charlotte [Morton] about her amazing work in putting together regulatory frameworks and standards to build good AD [anaerobic digestion] facilities. 

“So, we’ve got everything we need – all we need to do is to work together to make it happen.” 

Many speakers at the conference emphasised that both availability of good quality organic feedstock, and maximising the value of the outputs – including biomethane, biofertilizer and biogenic CO2 – were critical to the economics of biogas production. 

Getting these elements right could be more challenging and critical than the anaerobic digestion process itself, Bouskova-Houghton said. 

“It’s not actually the piece in the middle – it’s not the technology itself – it’s everything outside of the plant. 

“It’s your feedstock and it’s your products. 

“The key to a successful AD project is making sure you’ve got connected feedstock of known quantities and qualities for a reasonable period of time, and that you have secured a sustainable and long-term outlet for your products.” 

In terms of the likely cost of biogas, Ben Gerritsen, chair of GasNZ, said biogas production will cost more than that of “plentiful, cheap natural gas”. 

“But we don’t have plentiful, cheap natural gas anymore.

“So the more quickly we can diversify our sources of supply, the better positioined our energy system will be.”