CTO Assessment - European Commission

Wood fuel
The sector of wood supply has changed
over the last years in Europe with an
increasing international trade due to
large scale users especially in Northern
Europe. Trade of biofuels covers
wood waste, pellets and wood chips
to reach a level of about 1 Mtoe per
year in 2002/2003, compared to insignificant
volume 10 years ago. The
largest volume is traded from Baltic
states to Nordic countries, but also
from Finland to other Nordic countries,
and within central Europe (especially
Netherlands, Germany, Austria,
Slovenia, Italy) 6 .
During the recent past years, the
market for pellets has increased
sharply with almost 2 million tons in
2002. 115 pellets production plants
have been identified in Europe in
2003 for a capacity exceeding 3 Million
tonnes. Pellets are also imported
from USA and Canada. Sweden and
Denmark are the biggest users but the
market is also growing quickly in
Austria, Italy and Germany. Pellets
are used in large scale CHP plants to
substitute coal and in individual heating
systems.
Biomass for electricity
The market : The EU directive for renewable
electricity (2001/77/CE)
adopted in October 2001 states indicative
targets per country to reach on
average 22 % of renewable electricity
in 2010 against 13.9 % in 1997.
Biomass for heat
The market: Heat represents 90% of
the use of solid biofuels which makes
it a key market for bioenergy, and as
well for renewables, as it represents
the important share (50%) of the total
energy demand in Europe 7 . Several
experts and associations have
pointed out the lack of appropriate
legislation tools and policies to support
market development, specially a
directive on heat would be welcome.
The market is more developed where
biomass is competitive with fossil fuels
due to the taxation systems and
where district heating systems are operating,
like in Scandinavian countries
and more recently in Austria.
Cogeneration of heat and power is developed
on a large scale in Finland
(7,370 MW thermal in 2000
Eurobserv’ER 2001 ) and Sweden.
The Finnish Alholmens Kraft plant is
the largest biofuelled cogeneration
plant in the world
(240 MWe, 550
MWth).
Figure 5
Electricity from renewables in 1999 and indicative targets for 2010 (%)
80%
1999 2010
78.1
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1.4
6.0
14.0
Belgium
29.0
Denmark
5.4
12.5
Germany
10.0
20.1
Greece
13.1
Luxembourg
Source: EUBIONET, 2003, “Biomass survey in Europe”, EUBIONET Summary report, www.eubionet.vtt.fi, 29p.
29.4
Spain
14.4
21.0
France
5.3
13.2
Ireland
19.6
25.0
Italy
16.1
5.7
4.4
9.0
70.0
Netherlands
Austria
10.1
39.0
Portugal
30.5
31.5
Finland
48.5
60.0
2.0
10.0
Sweden
United Kingdom
20
Market Development