The essence of the potential of the agricultural biogas market in Poland – a case study of a biogas plant project

In recent years, the development of renewable energy sources has become one of the key demands in the European Union's policy. In Poland, the idea emerged that the energy potential of domestic agriculture may be an opportunity for broader use of the available agricultural biomass. Given that agricultural biogas has long been seen as one of the most promising directions for energy transition, the goal of the article was to assess the potential of the agricultural biogas market in Poland. The research methodology was based on statistical measures related to analysing the structure and changes over time in individual years. The structure analysis was carried out for selected Polish provinces, for which empirical distributions were built and selected descriptive parameters were calculated. A similar study was made in relation to selected EU countries. In addition, according to the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy, at least one agricultural biogas plant should be established in each Polish municipality. On this basis, the article assesses the ecological effect of the project on agricultural biogas in Marcinkowice, in the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship. The presented simulations allowed us to conclude that an agricultural biogas plant can be an ecological potential in the form of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels by reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while reducing fossil fuel consumption. It was important for the practice to confirm that investing in renewable energy sources, including the use of biogas, is part of the goals and directions of development related to the sustainable management of environmental resources and the development of renewable energy sources.