Methodological Approach to the Environmental and Economic Assessment of Biogas Energy Projects

Efficient energy supply of industrial enterprises, especially energy-intensive ones, together with a negative environmental impact decrease, is considered to be an important issue throughout the fourth energy transition and the implementation of circular economy principles that are aimed at resource optimization, energy saving, carbon-free technologies and zero waste production. In this context, quite a significant amount of accumulated and annually increasing organic waste could become a valuable resource for Russia. Thereby, biogas technologies development and implementation is one of the potential directions that determine the efficiency of its energy use. The purpose of the study is to develop a methodological approach for the environmental and economic assessment of biogas energy projects. The possibility of introducing biogas and other renewable energy installations into the Russian regional energy system is considered in this manuscript. The methodological features of the environmental and economic assessment of energy facilities are substantiated, taking into account the key performance indicators corresponding to the implementation of circular economy strategies. Alternative approaches to the environmental and economic assessment of investment projects are proposed using an integral indicator of environmental and economic efficiency, which is calculated both with: (a) positive and negative consequences of an environmental and economic entities that are significant for the region; (b) aggregated private indicators, which take into account the intensity of nature use and environmental friendliness of projects; (c) complex score. The proposed approach can be used for the environmental and economic assessment of the introduction of biogas technologies efficiency, as well as through the comparison of alternatives for modernization projects in the energy sector.