Decentralized Energy Supply: 
EU Farmers Are Focusing Primarily on Storage
and Making Biogas Plants More Flexible 

Storage as a Key Technology for the Energy Transition

Respondents place their greatest hopes in innovations in storage solutions. This finding is not surprising, because the more the expansion of fluctuating renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power progresses, the more pressing the question becomes of how to store generated energy and make it available as needed. Battery storage is considered a key technology for flexibility and cost-effectiveness—especially when intelligently combined with other energy sources.
 

Flexible and Efficient Use of Biogas

Furthermore, hopes are pinned on making biogas plants more flexible and on the directly related improvement in engine efficiency—which, in the context of decentralized energy generation, primarily refers to gas engines in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Compared to other renewable energy sources, biogas plants offer the decisive advantage of being able to produce electricity when solar and wind power are insufficient. Flexible biogas plants that respond to market signals and can supply peak electricity are therefore considered a key component of a resilient energy supply. At the same time, many companies in Germany are grappling with the question of how to replace expiring EEG subsidies with new business models: increased flexibility, direct gas feed-in as biomethane, or, in the long term, hydrogen production are possible avenues—and all three are reflected in the innovation priorities expressed by the respondents.

Across Europe, the number of hours with negative electricity prices on the power exchange is rising sharply—in the first quarter of 2026, more than 1,200 such hours were already recorded in the EU-27 markets, twice as many as in the same period the previous year. Those who feed power into the grid inflexibly during these times earn no revenue or even incur losses. Storage systems and flexible biogas plants are thus not only a technical innovation but are increasingly becoming an economic necessity for agricultural energy producers across Europe.

Particularly at sites with existing biogas plants, the existing grid infrastructure offers ideal conditions for integrating storage systems: flexible load profiles, the ability to buffer surpluses, and attractive marketing options make this combination an economically attractive strategy for sustainable energy operations.
 

PV and Agri-PV

Photovoltaics (PV) and agri-PV systems are also important to the farmers surveyed. In addition to the already widespread use of farm buildings for PV systems, agri-PV offers additional potential through the dual use of land for electricity generation and agriculture. For example, the shading provided by PV systems can be harnessed to benefit crops such as berries or vegetables.
 

Hydrogen, Small Wind Turbines, and LNG: Future Technologies with Potential

Hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are still in the early stages of widespread adoption in agricultural practice, both technologically and economically. Accordingly, respondents rate innovations in these areas as less urgent. However, hydrogen produced from biogas or renewable electricity, as well as power-to-gas concepts, are considered promising in the long term.

Since small-scale wind turbines face location-specific limitations and—compared to PV—often have lower economic viability, farmers rated them as less important.