Les potentialités économiques de la production de biométhane en vue d'usages collectifs

The energetic potential of agricultural by-products and biomass is still today largely untapped, owing to the lack of available data concerning the competitiveness of knowed technologies. This paper is a first attempt at a microeconomic assessment of a particulary energy-production unit for collective use, based on the mechanization of organic wastes. The method we used is derived from actualized calculation and consists in comparing the actualized average cost per cubic meter of biogas produced for a collective use, with the actualized average cost of other fossil energy sources, especially heating oil. The data were collected at the methanization experimental unit at Saint-Secondin (Vienne department). Our calculations show that without any massive financial state intervention, the developpment potentialities of biogas remain poor. Nevertheless, the consideration at the social benefits linked to the valorization of biomass allows to offset such restrictive conclusions as suggested by the evaluation grid resulting from the economic calculation.