BIOMASS INTEL

Europe’s history is one of rapid population growth, intricately linked to the expeditious utilization and exploitation of various sources of energy.  Wood is a principle component of that history.

In his prophetic account of the peak oil crisis, The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World, Paul Roberts explains that the emergence of the world’s first energy economy arose in response to a growing dependence on reliable sources of energy.  Before there was coal or oil, our ancestors had “invented a system to find and distribute fuel as efficiently and cheaply as possible.”  In forested regions like Europe, Roberts explains, “this would have meant organizing wood-gathering parties to comb the neighboring countryside.”  To meet a growing gap between supply and demand, specialization in the wood-for-fuel industry led to the woodcutter, the warehouse owner, and the wood-seller.  As a consequence, wood fueled the proliferation of new industries, which manufactured glass, dyes, ale, lime, salt, and brick.

But the heavy demands this placed on surrounding forests led to a series of energy crisis throughout the world.  Catastrophic fuel shortages were feared “as much as large-scale disasters from war, drought, or plague.”  In Europe, “[the] agricultural revolution had depleted its primary fuel source: firewood.”  Roberts notes:

Not only were farmers clearing forests to plant more crops, but the additional crops supported a larger population with even greater needs for wood fuel (not to mention lumber for buildings and ships), which only took more of a toll on already decimated forests…The crisis eased briefly in the fourteenth century, when the plague killed off a third of Europe’s population and allowed forests time to grow back.  But by the fifteenth century, the recovering populatioun had wiped out any wood surplus, and firewood became an expensive luxury.

Now — in response to regulation around carbon emissions — Europe’s biomass power industry is enjoying a bit of a reniassance according to a recent report that projects 50 percent growth for the continent’s biomass capacity by 2013.

The new study by energy consulting firm ecoprog and research institute Fraunhofer UMSICHT, attributes the growth to a wave of wood-fired power plants starting up throughout the UK and France.  But over-exploitation and strains on precious forest resources are also engendering a healthy debate around sustainability criteria.

According to the study, biomass capacity has grown 40 percent across Europe in the last year, driven primarily by new plants in Scandinavia, Germany, and Austria.  Germany’s aggressive feed-in tariff program was cited as a key driver of small-scale biomass capacity.  Looking forward, the report notes that 130 plants are in the pipeline and predicts that the overall number of plants will increase by nearly 50 percent between 2008 and 2013 to up to 1,050 plants, while generating capacity will also rise 50 percent to about 10,000MW.

The rapid growth also raises questions about biomass capacity throughout Europe.  Since transport accounts for a large percentage of operational costs for biomass facilities, the biomass power sector is dependent on the adequate supply of local wood resources.  To avoid repeating the history Roberts describes above, but mostly to protect the environment and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, Europe has led the way in establishing nonbinding sustainability criteria.

While mainly around biofuels, EU requirements aim to ensure that biomass is not produced at the expense of valuable natural habitats in the respective producer countries, in other words, that it is sustainably produced.  Biomass for heat and power criteria center around avoiding knocking down forests which act as carbon sinks and unnecessarily burning energy to transport wood chips from far away places.  One of the few successes of the UN’s climate-change talks in Copenhagen was the increasing acceptance of the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) initiative, which suggests that biomass criteria could be supported worldwide.

Most entities throughout Europe support at least nonbinding sustainability criteria, but also recognize that the existing framework may be sufficient.  Morten Thoroe, Secretary General of the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) notes:

The risks of using unsustainable biomass are low. The EU biomass production is covered already by the existing framework for agriculture, forestry and environment. These include the cross-compliance rules, environmental legislation, sustainable forest management practice and voluntary forest certification scheme.

While national sustainability standards have begun to emerge around biofuels (see Germany’s recent ISSC certification system), the EU Commission has questioned the need for sustainability criteria program around biomass for heat and power and is in the process of publishing a report to examine the issue.  The report is likely to provide recommendations to member states urging them to adopt biofuel-like criteria for biomass.

More information about the ecoprog and Fraunhofer UMSICHT report is available here.