New Report Shows Value of Digitizing Biogas Cooking Carbon Projects
Research from Inclusive Energy reveals that digital metering can provide more accurate, affordable information for calculating carbon offsets
London, UK, April 25, 2023 — A report by Inclusive Energy shows that digital approaches to monitoring household biogas cooking projects can result in cost savings, revenue gains, and increased value for carbon offset projects. With an increasing focus on the accuracy and quality of carbon credits, this study is a first attempt to quantify the benefits to biogas operators of ‘going digital’ now and in the future.
Inclusive Energy, a member of the Clean Cooking Alliance’s Venture Catalyst initiative, which provided support for the study, evaluated the financial impact of using a remote metering methodology for biogas carbon project reporting compared to the latest Gold Standard field test monitoring methodologies.
Until recently, there was no way of remotely verifying accuracy concerns for biogas carbon credits. The study analyzed the performance of Smart Biogas, a smart metering technology developed by Inclusive Energy, that monitors biodigester performance for small and medium-sized biodigesters.
The report, Who’s Counting? Exploring Whether Data Pays in Biogas Carbon Projects, finds that despite higher set-up costs, digitizing biogas carbon projects could feasibly pay for itself in the fourth year of operations and achieve net cost savings thereafter. Going digital could offer a maximum return on investment of 3.8X over a 10-year period.
The clean cooking sector attracts a relatively high value for carbon credits in the voluntary market, third only to forestry and agriculture. Smart Biogas provides accurate and affordable information required for issuing carbon offsets. The digital metering system is a highly attractive option for organizations seeking to participate in the voluntary carbon market.
“Biogas has been a non-digital domain for decades and the number of companies operating at scale are few and far between. We believe that digitization holds the key to scaled up biogas; and better returns from digitized carbon projects will support adoption. While the new Gold Standard methodology on which this study focused is a step forward, there is still work to be done to create a fully digital methodology. We hope to work with key stakeholders to make this happen.” said Vijay Bhopal, CEO of Inclusive Energy.
“We are proud to have supported Inclusive Energy in their research on the financial benefits of digital approaches to monitoring household biogas cooking projects. The findings of this study are critical in showcasing the potential for cost savings, revenue gains, and increased value for carbon offset projects. While there is still work to be done to scale digital MRV in cooking, we hope that this report will inspire project developers, policymakers and industry leaders to embrace digital solutions and drive the transition towards a more sustainable and efficient future.” said Shrikant Avi, Director, Market Strengthening, Venture Program at the Clean Cooking Alliance.
To read the full report, click here.
About Inclusive Energy:
Inclusive Energy is a specialist smart metering company working in both solar and biogas. Our smart metering products are in use in 27 countries and are pushing beyond the state-of-the-art, bringing about new opportunities for their customers through digitization. Based in the UK and India, we incorporated in 2018 and launched Smart Biogas in 2021. We have carried out pioneering work in digital monitoring, reporting and verification (D-MRV) in the biogas market for several years; achieving methodological improvements to both CDM and Gold Standard to allow for digital approaches. We have been piloting digital D-MRV with leading stakeholders in Kenya and Uganda since 2022, as this report series details.
