Bioenergy Implementation Plan - South-East Regional Authority

9.6. Summary of the Bioenergy Potential of the
South-East Region
Table 9.7 summarises the conclusions and assumptions regarding the bioenergy resource availability in the Region:
Table 9.7: Resource Availability
Bioenergy Source
Current
Use Note 2
(TJ/Year)
Resources
Available
(TJ/Year)
Current Biomass
Use as % of
Resource
Availability
Wood-chips / wood-pellets from 857 1,215 (Table 6.2) 25
forestry and sawmills Note 1
Woodchips from willow 0 6704 (Tables 6.7/ 6.14) 0
Surplus straw from agriculture 0 1089 (Table 6.3) 0
Biodiesel/PPO from OSR 15 Note 3 452 (Table 6.6) 0
Biogas from pig slurry and cattle slurry 0 406 (Table 6.4/ 6.5) 0
Biogas from grass 0 330 (Table 6.9) 0
Bioethanol from sugar beet 0 709 (Table 6.13) 0
Note 1: The current use of wood fuel is mainly wood chips and wood pellets delivered from forestry (wood chip) and sawmills
(wood pellets). However, the figure for resource availability (1,215 TJ) is only based on resource assessments within forestry.
Note 2: Estimated regional energy use for 2006
Note 3: Total estimated energy from biofuels for the Region for 2006
When combining the Region’s resources with the financial analyses of the relevant technologies, it is possible to identify
areas where there is a realistic potential for increased bioenergy utilisation in the South-East Region. For market viability
the following conditions must exist: demand, supply and a proven viable technology.
9.6.1. Wood Chips
The viability analysis suggests an attractive viability within the South-East for medium to large-scale wood chip boilers with
extensive operation hours per year (circa 7,800-8,000 per annum). Furthermore, wood chip based CHP-Plants are viable
with a suitable number of operation hours per year.
The fuel demand in the industrial sector is almost equivalent to the total wood resource including willow. However, a certain
fraction of the demand goes to small scale boilers and boilers with less operation hours. No detailed statistics are available
with regard to the distribution of the fuel consumption on boiler sizes and operation hours.
In the absence of more detailed data it was assumed that 25% of the fossil fuel consumption takes place in boilers
where accelerated replacement would be financially viable; while another 25% takes place in boilers where only natural
replacement would be viable. It was further assumed that the average lifetime of a fossil fuel boiler is 25 years, suggesting
that 4% of boilers are replaced annually.
The viability analysis suggested that a certain fraction of this potential could be in the form of CHP, but that the actual share
of CHP would depend on a range of non-economic factors which have not been analysed in this study.
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south-east regional authority
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