When it goes on-line at the start of 2009, Germany's biogas plant at Konnern, East Germany, will become one of the largest of its type in the world, and will output gas directly into its nation's power grid.

The plant will have the capacity to provide the grid with 15 million cubic metres of biome thane, for energy usage across the country.

It fits with plans for Germany's energy needs to be potentially reliant on biogas for 20% of its consumption by 2020.

Indeed last year's reports showed that - across 3750 biogas plants in Germany - there was a total biogas capacity of 1280MW.

The move at Konnern, which represents a substantial step in Germany's use of sustainable energy, was made possible only because new technology meaning that biogas can now be directly pumped into the national grid.

Before then, more than a third of all biogas created could not be utilised, simply because there was not enough demand for the energy in the local area, and the gas cannot be easily transported.

Now, though, the Konnern biogas power plant will supply energy to the whole nation.

It is expected that the plant will use corn crops as its raw material, 120,000 tonnes of which will be transported to the site each year.

Across Germany, however, the smaller biogas power plants rely on liquid manure.

It means that corn surplus and waste can now be put to use, creating a production circle that aids Germany across the board, from agriculture to utilities.

The move towards Biogas, it is hoped, will end Germany's sizeable reliance on Russia for imported natural gases.

Indeed a report from the 'Öko-Instituts' and 'Insitut für Energetik', in Leipzig, concluded that, by 2020, Germany could produce more biogas within its borders than Russia supplies to all the countries in the E.U.

It is hoped that in the future Germany might be able to provide biogas directly to other nations in the European Union, in much the same way that plans for solar farms in the Saharan desert are designed to connect to the electricity grids across Europe.

But Germany is not the only country who has developed and implemented biogas on the continent.

In 2006, work began on what is still one of the world's largest biogas plants. Found in Foluum, Denmark, the plant has a capacity of 850,000 cubic metres of methane, and was developed by a consortium which included the Technical University of Denmark, Agro Business Park, the Engineering College of Arthus, and the Danish Institute of Agricultural Science.

The plant went on-line in 2007, and is fuelled by liquid manure. Its output of 850,000 cubic metres is said to correspond to the sustained energy of 1000 homes.

Switzerland is also developing its own biogas plant, located at Inwil, near Lucerne. It is said to be capable of producing 1.9million cubic metres of biogas, converted from 60,000 tonnes of biomass.

It is expected that the plant will prevent the release of 4000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and save close to 2 million litres of petrol.

To encourage the production of sustainable energy, the Swiss government lifted the fossil fuel tax from any plants producing biogas, in 2007.

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