Economic Prospects of Biogas Sector Development Based on Using Agriculture’s Organic Waste

Introduction. The article is devoted to the research of the current state and economic prospects of agricultural biogas sector development in Ukraine. The resource potential of crop and livestock wastes is considered, and the necessity of its usage for energy purposes is justified. The key economic and environmental benefits of biogas production based on using agriculture’s organic waste are given. Particular attention is paid to state support policy in the renewable energy field, the results of its impact on agricultural biogas plant deployment, and the analysis of barriers to bioenergy sector growth in Ukraine. \n \nPurpose. The aim of the paper is to investigate the current state and economic prospects of the biogas sector development based on using agriculture’s organic waste in Ukraine. \n \nResults. The results of the study show that Ukraine has significant potential for biogas sector development based on using agriculture’s organic waste. For a more dynamic development of this sector, the Ukrainian government has introduced a number of incentives. However, despite their introduction, the share of electricity from agricultural biogas remains insignificant. By the end of 2017, this figure was only 2.5%, taking the penultimate position in the total structure of green electricity generation in the country. A number of barriers impedes this sector development. \n \nConclusions. At present, the potential of agriculture is of considerable interest for ensuring the energy independence of Ukraine. The large-scale, near-future development of the biogas sector based on using agriculture’s organic waste will guarantee social, economic, and environmental benefits for agricultural enterprises, territorial communities, and for the Ukrainian state as a whole. A more dynamic development of the agricultural biogas sector requires improvement of the regulatory framework (in the part by the elimination of barriers), the analysis of which was carried out in this study.