The Provisional Energy Balance of Spain 2025 provides a clear message for the biomethane industry:
Spain is making rapid progress in renewable electricity, but the energy transition of renewable molecules remains an unresolved issue.
And here, biomethane has a strategic opportunity. In 2025, Spain continues to show a high external energy dependence:
- 120,029 ktoe of total energy imports.
- 29,606 ktoe of exports.
- 39,088 ktoe of domestic production.
- 130,506 ktoe of gross available energy.
- 121,620 ktoe of gross inland consumption.
- 116,122 ktoe of total energy supply.
The picture is clear: we remain a country structurally dependent on energy imports. And when we look at gas, the opportunity for #Biomethane becomes even more evident. In 2025, the provisional balance shows:
- 28,767 ktoe of natural gas imports.
- 25,560 ktoe of gross inland natural gas consumption.
- 13,305 ktoe of final energy consumption of natural gas.
- Only 31.6 ktoe of domestic natural gas production.
In other words: Spain consumes a significant amount of gas, but produces hardly any. The molecule mostly comes from abroad. In contrast, biogases still show a reduced scale:
- 367.5 ktoe of biogas production.
- 367.5 ktoe of gross inland biogas consumption.
- 126.4 ktoe of final energy consumption of biogases.
- 77.9 ktoe of gross electricity production from biogases.
And with an additional message of final use with reduced efficiency, mostly in electrical cogeneration. The comparison is very illustrative: biogases represent approximately 1.4% of gross inland natural gas consumption. This is not a discouraging figure. It is a figure that reflects the size of the opportunity. Because biomethane does not need to replace all natural gas to be relevant. Replacing even a portion of imported fossil gas would have a direct impact on:
- Reduction of external energy dependence,
- Decarbonization of industrial, tertiary, and residential thermal uses, and long-distance heavy transport
- Utilization of agricultural, livestock, urban, and industrial waste,
- Generation of local economic activity,
- Valorization of digestate as organic fertilizer,
- Reduction of external dependence on highly CO₂-emitting nitrogenous fertilizers,
- Production of valorizable biogenic CO₂,
- Efficient use of existing gas infrastructures.
The 2025 Balance also shows that #Bioenergy already plays a relevant role within the Spanish energy system:
- 8,272 ktoe of bioenergy production.
- 8,412 ktoe of gross available energy.
- 6,843 ktoe of final energy consumption.
However, within this bioenergy, biogases still have a negligible weight. And biomethane, as an injectable and traceable renewable gas, needs to gain much more visibility, scale, and strategic recognition.
The conclusion is clear: Spain is accelerating in renewable electrons, but it also needs to accelerate in renewable molecules.
Electrification is essential, but not sufficient. There are industries, processes, and thermal demands, continuous consumption, and energy uses where renewable gas can provide an immediate solution, compatible with existing infrastructure and capable of generating territorial value in a fully circular and sustainable economy.
Therefore, biomethane is not just an energy solution. It is a clear tool for a sustainable, environmentally responsible, and circular economy. A biomethane plant does not only produce renewable gas. It also transforms waste into resources, generates digestate, can produce valorizable biogenic CO₂, reduces diffuse emissions, and creates industrial activity in rural areas.
Therefore, the strategic reading of the 2025 Energy Balance should not be limited to celebrating the progress in renewable electricity. The real question is:
How do we convert the potential of biomethane into installed capacity, certified renewable molecules, and real substitution of imported fossil gas?
The challenge is no longer to prove that biomethane makes sense. The challenge is to scale it. Spain has waste, a gas network, industrial, tertiary, and residential demand, and a need to reduce its external dependence. The 2025 Energy Balance confirms that the space for biomethane is not marginal: it is strategic.
#BIOMETHANE #BIOENERGY #RENEWABLEGAS