Assessment of the Potential for Balancing Wind Power Supply with Biogas Plants in Latvia

The aim of this study is to assess the potential of biogas plants in Latvia to balance power supply from wind power plants. Several balancing options are discussed in the paper, including demand driven biogas production with biogas storage, flexible biogas production, and the use of biogas in Power-to-Gas systems. Theoretical surplus wind energy accumulation potential using operational biogas plants in Latvia has been calculated. Results show that 83.75 MW of surplus wind power capacity in Latvia could be theoretically balanced by using dynamic biogas upgrading in biogas CHP plants in Latvia. That would allow balancing 3.6% of surplus wind electricity in a 100% wind energy scenario.