The important resources foreseen by the PNRR to support investments for the construction of new biomethane production plants and for the total or partial conversion of existing biogas plants represent a very important step towards meeting climate targets. But the production of biomethane is technically and economically advantageous only for larger plants; this implies a widening of the biomass supply radius, which for mountain areas means transporting biomass to the valley floor. For mountain areas, the only feasible and above all sustainable solution remains to create small plants that ‘close the loop’ locally.
The most ambitious objective of the South Tyrolean startup Eco8 srl, which created the Biogas Optitool© application, is to use the software to create a new ‘smart’ development model aimed at creating small biogas plants in mountainous areas that process mainly livestock effluents. In fact, small farms, scattered over a mountainous territory, can hardly set up and run a plant without external support; hence the difficulty of setting up a sufficient number of them to recover a significant percentage of the livestock manure produced in the territory.
The aim of this development model is therefore to apply the true philosophy of sustainable development in a simple way, but still based on a rigorous and certified calculation system, supporting local institutions in achieving climate objectives for agriculture by combining them with an economic advantage for small farms. The latter must be able to consider livestock manure as a resource, the more advantageous the better it is managed. In a mountainous area, this can also be a small part of ensuring the survival of mountain agriculture.