The European project ALFA – “Upscaling the market uptake of renewable energy by unlocking the biogas potential of livestock farming” aims to promote the large-scale adoption of agricultural biogas as a driver for a sustainable energy transition in Europe. Funded by the Horizon Europe programme, the project supports livestock farms in starting up or modernising biogas plants, providing commercial and technical assistance, capacity building and awareness raising activities, while promoting innovative collaborative approaches.

During the Mutual Learning Workshop and field visit organised in Rome in April 2025, a common challenge emerged among many Italian stakeholders: although interest in biogas is growing, small and medium-sized farmers face economic, bureaucratic, and operational barriers. In this context, cooperation between farms—for sharing resources, by-products, and facilities—represents a concrete yet still underexplored opportunity.

This is the model promoted by Laura Brida, expert at the Circular Economy Cluster in Bolzano and co-founder of the start-up Eco8 srl. Through digital solutions and local network projects, she has long been advocating for cooperative models that make biogas accessible even to smaller farms. The idea is simple yet ambitious: to unlock the potential of agricultural biogas in Italy through shared development models and decision-support tools. As part of the project’s awareness-raising campaign, Luna del Pizzo, project manager at APRE (Agency for the Promotion of European Research), partner in the ALFA project, interviewed her to explore the potential of this approach and understand what is really needed today to spread agricultural biogas in Italy.

Interview with Laura Brida – Circular Economy Cluster of Bolzano

• Laura, could you briefly tell us how Eco8 srl was founded? What is the context in which your work takes place? And how do you address the issue of biogas accessibility for small and medium-sized agricultural and livestock farms?

Eco8 srl was established in an area characterized by small farms, scattered over mountainous terrain. This means that, in order to set up a plant, it is necessary to have a significant number of farmers, who are also willing to invest in a plant that in any case has high costs, both in terms of construction and management. Hence the difficulty of setting up a number of plants capable of recovering a significant percentage of the manure produced by the farms in the area. It was therefore clear that the first objective had to be to improve the interactions between the different actors that revolve around a biogas plant, first of all optimising logistics; the next step was to give measurability to the positive impacts in terms of CO2e of the entire management cycle of the circular economy through an accurate and scientific tool such as the carbon footprint. Through this calculation we compare a situation without a plant to a situation with a biogas plant. Finally, it became clear that this could only be done with a digital medium that was simple, immediate and updated in real time; thus ‘Biogas Optitool’ was born.

• In the Italian context, many rural realities/farms are interested in biogas, but hindered by high costs, regulatory constraints and management challenges. What do you think are the main barriers that need to be overcome today to enable the widespread adoption of biogas among livestock farmers?

In general, the main barriers are the incentive environment. With FER2, not only is the tariff lower than with FER1, against a considerable increase in construction costs, but it also adds a constraint such as the gasometric recovery of digestate storage, which is more than acceptable from an environmental point of view for large plants, but very impactful from an economic point of view for small plants. The management difficulties are minimal for the individual farmer who has the possibility of building his own plant, enormous from a logistical (and economic) point of view when the inputs of several farmers must be managed.

• During the ALFA project, the importance of collaboration between farms emerged as a potential key to unlocking access to biogas. What potential do you see in cooperative models involving shared biogas plants among multiple agricultural or livestock farms?

Shared plants are obviously crucial for farms that do not independently have the minimum amount of biomass necessary for the plant to be economically justified. The logistical problem remains the main one, both in planning and management.

• What role can consortia, cooperatives, or local authorities play in supporting the development of biogas plants at the territorial level?

Farmers already have their own organization for cooperation; the role of local authorities, on the other hand, is fundamental because one of the main problems is precisely the location of the plants, as well as acceptance by the population. One of our goals is to initiate territorial agreements with public authorities to act as a ‘facilitator’ for the realisation of small biogas plants.
In view of the climate commitments of the territorial authorities, the cluster can be a very important tool for territorial planning (and the realisation of objectives), as it provides data based on a rigorous and certified calculation system. A possible territorial agreement can foresee, with the goal of the realisation of a series of plants, not only the simulation of improvements in terms of GHG or the financing during the realisation/management phase of the plants, but also bureaucratic simplifications, both for plants and digestate storage, e.g. by approving their landscape impact in a cumulative manner.

• Have you analyzed or supported projects based on the sharing of manure or agricultural by-products? What technical, logistical, or administrative conditions need to be in place to make this model truly replicable?

From our experience, apart from the logistical problem that we hope to have solved, the problem remains bureaucratic-administrative. Providing simplified authorisation procedures for small plants is crucial.

• In your opinion, are the agricultural and livestock sectors sufficiently informed today about the opportunities offered by biogas? What tools or communication channels are lacking to raise awareness and support informed decision-making among farmers?

I think the problem is more information overload, where the individual farmer is no longer able to understand which information is reliable and which is not. This is why associations are important, as they remain the point of reference for the farmer, as well as initiatives such as the ALFA project.

• Many livestock farmers, although interested, are afraid they lack the skills to manage a biogas plant or assess its feasibility. What kind of technical support, including digital tools, can help facilitate this decision-making process—especially for those starting from scratch?

For those starting from scratch, I believe that the sector associations can give all the technical support necessary to make a technical-economic assessment. Instead, we use our software as a simulation tool for the CO2e savings of a potential cluster and for calculating the ‘break-even point’ in terms of CO2e.
For the subsequent management, I believe the technical problem does not exist; all plant manufacturers provide a remote control system that supports the plant operator.

• During the Mutual Learning Workshop organized in April in Rome by the Italian Hub of the ALFA project, we visited a successful example of a small yet efficient biogas plant connected to several local farms. In your opinion, how important is it to start from these real-life cases to inspire and convince other farmers?

I would define it as crucial; from our experience, it is crucial for farmers to talk about practical problems with people who live the same reality and ‘see with their own eyes’ how the plant works. Creating a network for exchanging experiences, which has the necessary reliability (compared to what you might find on the net), is certainly a very important step.

• Simplifying regulations, introducing targeted incentives, strengthening technical support: which measures do you consider most urgent to facilitate the development of collaborative plants locally?

The priority is definitely to change the incentive system for smaller plants. When the business plan of a plant is credible with a long-term incentive, the rest will follow. If to this, as I said before, we add the support of a local authority, the conditions are all there.
The contribution we can make is to valorise the GHG savings given by these plants compared to a situation without a plant. Indeed, it is important to emphasise that biogas plants running on livestock manure not only produce green energy, but also remove nitrous oxide and methane from the environment that would otherwise be lost.
When it is possible to put an economic value on this saving, it will contribute significantly to the development of the sector. Small farms will then be able to see livestock manure as a resource, which is all the more profitable when it is better managed; this can also be a small part of ensuring their survival.

• Looking ahead to the next few years, how do you imagine the evolution of biogas in Italy? What, in your opinion, are the necessary steps to make it a real widespread opportunity also for small farms?

The incentivisation of biomethane was a fundamental step towards decarbonisation, but it is equally important not to forget that this is technically only possible for larger plants. It will therefore be crucial to continue to valorise biogas electricity, which not only represents a continuous renewable energy (as opposed to photovoltaics and wind power) but also removes GHG emissions from the environment. Proper incentivisation and economic valorisation of the savings, as well as support from local authorities, remain fundamental.