About one third of the gas used in western Europe and Germany is imported from Siberia, whereas the transport of the natural gas is mostly realised by high-pressure pipelines via Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

These are countries, in which biomass for energetic usage could be available in considerable amounts in the long term. Generally, it would be possible to produce bio gas along the existing and planned natural gas pipelines, upgrade it to natural gas quality and inject it to the grid - in order to use it either physically in Germany (and western Europe), or account it virtually in the context of the possibilities made available by the EU Renewables Directive.

The questions emerging from such concepts are manifold. The following focal points are being analysed by the project partners:

• Energy and climate policies (Wuppertal Institute);
• Technological, economic and ecologic aspects of bio methane production (DBFZ);
• Analysis of technical biomass and bio methane potential (TU Dresden, IAMO);
• Macroeconomic analysis of bio methane production (DBFZ, Wuppertal Institute, IAMO);
• Analysis of bio methane transport regarding gas economy related aspects (Wuppertal Institute).

The projects aims at drawing conclusions on the potential and possible ways of integration of the supply option "bio-methane from eastern Europe" based on the considered questions. These conclusions will contribute to an evaluation of the variants and potentials of potential European bio-methane injection strategy.