Report on the perspectives to the development of the biomass potential

This Report on the perspectives to the development of the biomass potential, together with Databases and maps on biomass potential, are deliverables to Work package 3 (WP 3) of ACCESS project. The aim of this WP is to help different stakeholders (such as producers, consultants, energy service companies, and consumers) to assess the biomass resources that can be used as a fuel for smallscale heating and hot-water supply purposes in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

This report has been elaborated on the basis of country reports and databases information presented by partners from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia. The Greek partner also provided some data for the database. An integral part of this report is the database. For each country, the report and database present background information on RES potential, present utilization for heat and electricity, and description of solid biomass energy potential and situation in present biomass production/utilization. At the end of the each country report, barriers and opportunities for biomass utilization in small systems have been assessed. The database presents tables and maps according to the countries which describe biomass potential in more details, wood biomass utilization for energy in present, comparison of available prices of different wood biomass fuels as well as some other fuels and data regarding the pellets and briquettes producers active on the market. Also tendencies of market development towards the use of biomass technologies and biomass fuels are mentioned. The total biomass potential has been assessed mainly based on national studies and analyses. As the project is aimed mainly to small biomass systems which use pellets and briquettes (produced from wood residues and wastes) the decision to focus mainly on wood biomass and its potential has been taken. Also the biomass potential from agriculture as a very promising source of energy for the future in the target countries and the potential of short rotation plantation were considered. The report is based on systematization of results of previous studies elaborated on national level with the assessment of regional distribution of biomass for energy purposes. For regional analyses, the attention has been laid to residues from wood processing industry for potential production of pellets and briquettes and forest residues use mainly as fire wood and for wood chips production. The regions agreed for collection of available data in each country are regions on the level of NUTS 3 - according to EU statistics. Potential of biomass obtained from wood processing for the energy use has been calculated for each region from processed wood volume, with the waste share from processed wood 30 – 35 % and share of waste for energy use of 50 %. Potential of biomass for energy use from forestry has been calculated for each region as regional forest area x forest use rate x energy yield rate. In forest use rate, the regional mountainousness, as indicator of lower accessibility was considered. Information on present utilization of biomass energy has been reviewed from available studies and by collecting information directly from the market players (big companies in the wood processing industry, forestry managing companies, installers companies, branch organisations, etc.).

Source: access-ret.net/info/pdfs/biomass_development.pdf