Commission must put its faith and funding into biomass

By Karen Carstens

Date: 27/05/04

ASK anyone to conjure up an image of "renewable energy" in action and they will probably think of a wind turbine or solar panel. Biomass, by contrast, usually does not spring to mind.

But it could be the next big thing on the EU renewables market - if the European Commission stops giving it short shrift in the policymaking process.

So goes the argument of green groups calling for more action on promoting biomass in energy production, a renewables sector with vast untapped potential that involves a whole lot more than manure.

Broadly speaking, biomass refers to all organic matter of vegetable and animal origin and is the oldest fuel known to man.

In terms of modern electricity generation, it could come from existing forests, plantations of trees such as poplar and willow, or crops of tall grasses.

Residues from agricultural production, such as straw from cereal crops, as well as from food and industrial crops such as sugar cane, coffee and coconut palms also count as biomass. So do sawdust, bark chippings and wood shavings from sawmills and even manure, sewage sludge and used vegetable cooking oil.

But it is the so-called woody biomass, from forestry and farming, that may have the greatest potential to become a major source of carbon-free power.

To raise its profile, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is today (27 May) launching a biomass publicity blitz by hauling wood chips and other fuels to the heart of Brussels' EU quarter.

Giulio Volpi, climate and renewables policy officer at WWF's European policy office, said it is high time for the EU to jump on the biomass bandwagon.

"Wind is already a success story for renewable energy - it is producing more than expected," he said.

"But if we are serious about achieving the 12% [EU renewables] target of total energy consumption by 2010, we need biomass."

To highlight what kind of a role biomass could play, WWF commissioned an independent study conducted by London's Imperial College: bioelectricity currently accounts for just 1% of total electricity capacity in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but the recently released study suggests this could be bumped up to 15% by 2020.

Most bioelectricity production in the wider Europe of OECD nations is associated with forestry and wood processing. It often takes place in "co-generation" - or combined heat and power - plants based on a variety of combustion technologies during which the heat produced is usually used for industrial processes or district heating.

Some countries, such as Sweden, have promoted a wood-based biomass industry. And Finland has considerable experience in "co-firing" biomass with fossil fuels and waste.

But biomass has largely been left out of the policymaking mix in most countries and the report stresses that "usually the development of bioelectricity has been a result of supportive policies and regulations".

The arguments in favour of biomass are compelling, as a separate report from Britain's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution indicates.

It highlights that biomass is "close to carbon neutral" and is a controllable renewable energy, unlike some others - witness the "intermittency" debate over wind power, which has led critics to claim it is still too unreliable.

If the UK wants to meet a tough target of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050, "it is vital for the government to concentrate on encouraging low- or non-carbon electrical and heat generation", states the report by the independent advisory group. "As a component of a renewable energy generation mixture, biomass should play an important role."

The report examines three types of indigenous biomass fuel: forestry materials, energy crops and agricultural residues. It notes that biomass can also be imported in the form of pelleted sawdust, an internationally traded commodity.

"Sufficient biomass is already available to initiate the development of the sector, in the form of forestry products and by-products, straw and municipal arisings," it notes. "Systematic use of this material will have the additional benefit of providing extra income streams for farmers and foresters, improving forest management and diverting materials from landfill.

"In the longer term, the use of biomass for energy will depend at least partially on the production of energy crops," which would require significant changes in agricultural land-use by 2050.

The report also points to a significant gap in government policy promoting heat production: "Using heat instead of, or as well as, electrical energy could increase conversion efficiencies substantially - from typically 30% to around 80%.

"Biomass can be a reliable, controllable source of both heat and power and the utilization of this additional benefit should therefore be central to biomass exploitation."

The report concludes by calling upon the UK government to develop a biomass action plan: "The scope for biomass as a source of renewable heat needs further investigation," it states. "The introduction of a green heat credit would help to raise the profile and profitability of [such] schemes."

The WWF's Volpi feels that similar recommendations should apply at EU level.

The costs of biomass feedstock varies widely from negative values, in the case of residues requiring disposal, to relatively high costs in the case of some energy crops. But Volpi stressed that any extra bioelectricity costs could be justified by the additional social benefits gained.

Meeting the 15% bioelectricity target by 2020 could, according to the Imperial College report, generate between 200,000 and 320,000 new jobs, largely in rural areas.

And biomass could be the answer to many a farmer's prayers, notably in new member states such as Poland, where agricultural production is less competitive than in the "old" EU-15.

"Farmers are looking for alternatives," said Volpi. "Now, they can become producers of the energy of the future."

But they will need support in switching from current industrial or food crops to new "energy crops", in the form of financial security and long-term contracts for a fledgling market.

The best way to go about this is "a real structural adjustment of the Common Agricultural Policy [CAP]", suggested Volpi, adding that biomass must be considered when the EU's controversial, cash-heavy CAP is revised this summer.

"We are in the same situation as after the Second World War," added Volpi, referring to the then shortage of agricultural products. "The CAP was so effective at creating a stable and profitable market for agricultural crops - but we don't need that anymore."

Instead of the overproduction of the past that led the EU to dump its excess food crop baggage on developing countries, the Union should instead switch to more forestry crops and energy crops, Volpi claimed. "We need to do now what they did 60 years ago for [Europe's] agricultural markets.

"This is a long-term challenge that the EU needs to wake up to."

But EU agriculture and energy officials have not taken to the idea. Volpi cited one meeting in which environmental officials tried to meet their agricultural counterparts to discuss adding biomass strategies to the CAP, but the latter failed to even keep the appointment.

"The energy people don't understand that this is the future for sustainable agriculture and the agriculture people don't even show up for meetings," Volpi claimed.

"But this would support rural development by creating new jobs in rural areas and offer a sustainable alternative income to farmers."

The Imperial College report to WWF recommends that governments establish biomass industry and stakeholder forums "to discuss barriers to market uptake and policy measures aimed at overcoming them", which should then "be translated into action plans".

"Bioelectricity growth will not happen without greater integration between energy, environment and agricultural and forestry policies and a carefully designed mix of incentives aimed at [these] sectors," it states.

The report comes to the conclusion that "the environmental and rural development benefits of energy plantations are likely to be significant and should be more strongly reflected in incentives aimed at their development".

Green groups are calling for more action from the European Commission on promoting biomass in energy production.