Reference to the EU contract Number

Summary.

This report is a brief overview of the biomass markets in thirteen countries within the European Union. It shows the current level of development and the extent to which biomass technologies are being used.

The report also looks at the future market for bio-energy and the factors that are increasing or holding-back its future development.

The final investigation is the financial support structure for the use of biomass technologies within individual countries. European funding is not described in this review.

This is a review on the market conditions for the use of biofuel in thirteen countries in the European Union. It has been written to support the project “Promotion of European Biomass Technology in Agro-Industry of High Potential Third Countries”.

The aim of this section is to help interested parties in Third Countries to understand the current level of development and the extent to which biomass technologies are being used in Europe.

The report also looks at the future market for bio-energy and the factors increasing or holding-back its future development.

The final investigation is the financial support structure for the use of biomass technologies within individual countries. European funding is not described in this review.

Austria's gross domestic energy consumption shows that fossil sources of energy still predominate, even if energy policy attributes a high priority to renewable energy sources. Austrians are anyway proud of deriving nowadays one quarter of the total energy consumption from renewable sources. Biomass and hydropower occupy a major position of the renewable energy sources, the contribution of solar energy and wind energy is despite enormous rates of increase over the past few years relatively small.

Accounting for more than 57 % of the biomass, traditional logwood is still the most important biogenic source of energy in Austria. Bark and sawmill by-products are used in sawmills, wood-processing industry and in district heating plants. There has been great success in the history of Biomass District Heating Systems in Austria in the 1990s, with the number of facilities reaching over 500 by the end of 2000.

Waste lyes is used in the pulp and paper industry for the production of process heat and electricity. The use of wood wastes from construction and demolition sites, as well as the use of other biomass resources (mainly straw), is only marginal.

Even if the forest residue resources are remarkable in Austria, the market for forest wood chips is not very well established. Though the utilisation of forests for energy generation is currently representing a valid means of additional income for farmers and contributes to job security in remote areas, technology producers have to face a large number of different quality levels of forest wood chips (different sizes, moisture contents, etc.) making it difficult to develop standardised products.

Some entrepreneurs and organisations have promoted the marketing and trade of woody biofuels for private consumers in the recent years, at least pellets are nowadays available all over Austria as a standard high quality wood fuel. Automatic pellet boilers do have a rapidly increasing share in domestic heating systems. For 5 years now, the market for pellet boilers has almost doubled each year.

There are different support measures for investments on both the federal and provinces level in Austria. Due to extra-ordinary support measures in the province of Salzburg about 50 % of all newly constructed subsidised residential space in 2001 was heated with wood fuels.

The general VAT rate is 20 %, a reduced VAT rate of 10 % is used for forest biomass and a variety of agricultural products. For electricity, natural gas and coal there is a general energy tax. Special feed-in tariffs for electricity from renewable sources are available in the provinces' level.

The most important biomass resources in Belgium are solid industrial by-products and industrial black liquors. The Belgian biomass resources are not used in an optimal way. Only part of the wood industry uses its solid residues, for economical but also ideological reasons forest residues are not used nor harvested in Belgium, even if mobilisation methods would be available. Refined wood fuels like briquettes and pellets are not yet used commercially.

The steps taken in Belgium to support the development of renewable energy sources form part of a broader policy based on the concept of sustainable development. The R.E.S. component of this concept is not as dominant as the R.U.E. component. In the national context, the most important measure to support R.E.S. development is the 0,02449 €/kWh direct subsidy paid to the producers of "green electricity". Different other programmes on national level like "The equipment programme", "National action programme for the reduction of CO2 emission" and "The Sustainable Development Plan" put their emphasis as mentioned on the promotion of R.U.E.

However there are also subsidies on renewable energy sources granted by the regional governments, the total aid (local plus European) being limited to a maximum of 30 % of the eligible investment cost. In addition to investment aids, companies may benefit from regional actions offering subsidised training programmes for the employees.

Denmark has a well-established biomass market based on the use of straw and wood. In the 1970s, the oil crisis created a greater interest in the use of wood and again in the 1980s when there was an increase in taxes on oil and coal. Today, the Danish Government has an energy plan called Energi 2000, which sets demanding targets for renewable energy use. In order for this plan to succeed, the three main political parties in Denmark signed an agreement, called “The Biomass Agreement”. This agreement required them to increase the use of biomass in centralised power plants.

Straw and wood are both important sources of energy in Denmark. About 15 per cent of straw is used to produce energy. The main users are farmers who burn the straw in boilers to dry their crops. The remainder is used for district heating, combined-heat-and-power (CHP) and power plants.

In Denmark today, wood accounts for at least 28 per cent of total renewable energy production. The use of wood may be greater than this, as residential and commercial production is not registered. Wood-fuel can be categorised into four classes; (a) fuelwood; (b) wood waste; (c) wood pellets; and (d) forest chips. Wood waste is frequently used by the wood industry to produce heat and electricity in cogeneration plants.

Denmark has recently begun producing wood-pellets and wood-briquettes and as the demand has increased, wood waste is being imported for this purpose. Currently, wood pellets and briquettes account for 13 per cent of wood use. As wood pellets are likely to be used to fuel the district heating systems when they change from natural gas to biomass, the demand for wood waste will increase even more.

Plantations of short-rotation willow coppice offer an alternative biomass fuel. At present, the use of willow, in this way, is small and insignificant compared to other wood sources. It does, however, have the potential to become a major source, especially as farmers need to diversify and find alternative uses for land.

The Danish Government has a policy of afforestation. This includes the planting of new forests on agricultural land. The afforestation will sustain and increase opportunities for producing energy from wood. Currently, forests cover approximately 10 per cent of land in Denmark. The aim is to double this in an attempt to meet the European targets for renewable energy. Subsidies are available at the local level, but only a few farmers and private forest owners have taken up the scheme, yet, strict guidelines are in place to ensure afforestation is sustainable in the proposed areas.

Denmark has also promoted the use of biomass technology by offering subsidies for installing boiler-systems in private dwellings. Wood pellets appear the most attractive option in this sector.

Financial support has been provided by a number of laws, the first being the Heat Supply Act. Under this Act, the Energy Minister had the power to control the type of fuel used in heating units for apartment-blocks, district-heating plants and decentralised plants. The second act was the CO2 Act. This Act offers a subsidy of up to 50 per cent of the cost of construction of a biomass CHP plant. Subsidies are usually between 20 and 30 per cent of capital costs.

A subsidy of 13 € per MWh is granted for electrical power generation based on natural gas, and a subsidy of 23 € per MWh is granted for generation based on straw or wood chips. The CO2 tax of 13 € per MWh is refunded for renewable energy. Private producers of renewable energy therefore receive a subsidy of 36 € per MWh.

The biomass market looks strong in Denmark, and is set to increase. There are further amounts of straw to utilise, and the government’s afforestation policy will ensure new sources of wood. Incentives are in place for renewable energy as well as investment grants.

Finland has doubled its use of biomass over the last twenty years and this goes towards producing 25 per cent of its energy. It is now one of the largest users of renewable energy in the European Union and produces 17 per cent of its electricity from biomass, which is the largest percentage for a country in the European Union.

In 1999, the Finnish Government set a target for 2010, to increase their use of renewable energy by a further 50 per cent. It is understood that nearly all of this will come from the use of biomass, 25 small-scale cogeneration biomass plants have expected to be built.

The type of biomass used is wood fuel and is classed in three categories: (a) fire-wood and forest chips; (b) industrial by-products (bark, sawmill chips and dust, shavings and black liquor); and (c) refined wood-fuels (wood briquettes, wood pellets, charcoal and pyrolysis oil).

A third of the installed power capacity is from CHP. Of this, 53 per cent is from municipal district heating plants and 47 per cent from industry cogeneration. About 75 per cent of Finland’s district heat is produced in CHP plants.

The residential and commercial sector accounts for a third of the total energy consumption. District heating plays an important role in this sector, and is available in most cities. District heating accounts for around 44 per cent of the market, more than 80 per cent in large cities, and 90 per cent in Helsinki.

Industry is the largest user of energy. Wood-based industries account for about 60 per cent of industrial demand. The utilisation of biofuel in these industries is high, providing almost 50 per cent of its fuel consumption. Most electricity is generated in CHP plants.

In Finland, the total annual investment grants for bio-energy are around 15 million €, with 17 million € spent on research and development. The main project at the moment is the Wood Energy Technology Programme, which aims to increase the use of forest chips. The programme has a budget of 40 million €.

The investment grants include the launching of new technology on the market. For wood-fuel, investment grants of up to 30 per cent are available, depending on the size of the plant and newness of the technology. A proposal has been made to support large-scale demonstration plants, which is a new area for Finland. Grants of 17 to 34 million € will be made available every three years.

Energy taxation is unlikely to be changed in Finland at present. There are two taxes paid by the consumer: environmental tax at 4.2 € per MWh, and the consumer tax of 7 € per MWh. When the electricity is produced by wood, the producer gets a tax refund of 4.2 € per MWh.

The Finnish Government appears committed to increase the use of biomass technologies with grants available for new plants and technologies. Incentives are available in the form of tax refunds for generator to produce electricity from wood.

District heating systems are another area for development. At present only 5 per cent are fuelled by biomass. There is the possibility of changing existing boilers to biomass, and to build new district heating schemes to be based on biomass. Despite being one of the main users of biomass technology in Europe, Finland still recognises that there is much more to be done.

France has extraordinary resources in straw and domestic (residential) firewood. Despite the remarkable straw resources it is not used in energy production. The most used biomass type is domestic firewood, anyway only two thirds of the resources are utilised. About 20 % of the solid industrial by-products are used in energy production, the use of refined wood fuels (pellets and briquettes) is still very initial, the production of pellets is limited (only 1 or 2 plants).

For 1999 it has been estimated, that there were about 125 biomass boilers with a total installed capacity of about 300 MWth in municipal district heating plants and about 300 sawmills equipped with biomass boilers fuelled with sawdust and bark with a total installed capacity up to 500 MWth. Few plants assume power generation.

The French wood-fuel policy develops on the basis of a programme launched in 1994 and renewed in 2000 for a 6-year period. The programme is managed by ADEME, the global budget amounts to 12.2 M€. Subsidies are allocated for feasibility studies and technical assistance to contracting authorities for the building, the follow-up and the operation of biomass-heating-plants.

As main barriers for enhancing the utilisation of biomass, the fragility of wood fuel supply and a disadvantageous fiscal system are mentioned. Also the lack of clear rules concerning biofuels penalises projects.

Biomass energy accounts for only 0.8 per cent of Germany’s primary energy needs. However, studies have shown that there is the potential for biomass to fulfil between 5 and 10 per cent of Germany’s energy requirement. This would conserve the equivalent amount of fossil fuels - oil, natural gas, or coal.

The biomass sources that are used in Germany are: (a) straw from grain cultivation; (b) grass cuttings from local areas; and (c) forestry residues. By increasing the use of these sources, Germany’s provision of energy from biomass could increase three-fold.

Germany has been constrained from implementing energy from biomass because of high capital costs. Biomass technology is more expensive than the established systems for oil and gas. This is partly because there is little competition between manufacturers and the technical standards are high. It is technically more complex to burn a solid fuel more efficiently and more emission friendly than a gaseous or liquid source of energy. Another barrier in Germany is that a fuel-market for biomass has not yet been established.

The German Government has introduced legislation that sets specific tariffs for each renewable technology based on its real costs and aiming to compensate for the distortions in the conventional electricity market. The Renewable Energy Law (REL) was adopted by Germany, on the 25th February, 2001. Its overall objective is to double the amount of electricity produced from renewable sources thereby increasing the market share of renewable electricity from 5 to 10 per cent by 2010.

The contribution of RES in Greece is close to 9% of the national gross energy needs. Biomass constitutes more than half of this share, followed by hydropower (40%). Solar energy (6%) and other renewables (less than 4%, mostly wind) are less substantial.

The agricultural land of Greece totals 9 Mha, from which 4 Mha is arable land and 5 Mha pastures. A considerable amount of agricultural and forest residues are produced each year, estimated around 4 million Mtoe. The main agricultural residues are cotton stalks, corn stalks and cereal straw. The main cultivated crops such as wheat, cotton and maize corn occupy more than 40% of the total Greek arable land though wheat has very low grain yields compared to other European countries.

The annual total biomass contribution is approximately 1 Mtoe. During the last years, this value has remained more or less stable being influenced by two opposing trends, the diminishing resources of traditional bioenergy (fuelwood) and the gradual increase in new bioenergy applications (agro-industrial residues). Agricultural sources contribute the largest part of bioenergy in Greece, contrary to other European countries, where forest-derived biomass is dominant.

Type of Biomass	Percentage	Annual contribution
Fuelwood from forests	40%	400 ktoe/year
Fuelwood from tree crops	30%	300 ktoe/year
Agro-industrial residues	20%	200 ktoe/year
Charcoal, forest-derived	3%	30 ktoe/year
Charcoal, agriculture-derived	3%	30 ktoe/year
Other (biogas etc)	4%	40 ktoe/year
Total	100%	1.000 ktoe/year

Energy crops have been introduced during the last decade and have recently received increased attention. The EU and the Greek government have been ardent supporters of energy crop cultivation, by financing and demonstrating study tours in rural and agricultural areas.

A small number of plants using biomass technology have been established throughout the country though it is considerably lower than the broad application found in other EU countries. Electricity from biomass is an option only lately starting to be considered by Greek companies. A recent example is the 7MW Electricity Generation in Psyttalleia biological treatment plant. The produced biogas is used for power production at the CHP (combined heat and power plant) and for heating demands of the biological treatment processes

The total installed capacity of biogas electricity generation plants in Greece is depicted in the following table:

Location	Owner	Installed Capacity (kW)
Thessaloniki	O.T.A.	240
Iraklio	DEYA, Iraklio	194
Chania	DEYA, Chania	166
Psyttaleia	EYDAP	7.400
Total		8.000

The Greek government has taken a number of steps to encourage a comprehensive approach to RES, aiming at a 733Mtoe and 1400Mtoe biomass target by 2000 and 2005 respectively. Supported by a solid legislative framework, local authorities, organisations and private investors have been given the opportunity to make the most of the renewable energy potentials. The Operational Programme for Energy (OPE) and the currently introduced new Electricity and Development Laws provide substantial information concerning co-financing, subsidies and pricing policies

Between 1996 and 1999 the Operational Programme for Energy offered 87.6 million € investment support in the area of RES and of rational use of energy including a 45% funding grants for biomass system installations

The exploitation of biomass benefits the Greek economy leading to reduced fossil fuel imports while contributing to the alleviation of the environmental and energy supply problems. Furthermore, in compliance with the agricultural policy of the EU, utilization of biomass for energy purposes could contribute to the achievement of significant social and economical targets, especially in local level (decrease of unemployment, stabilization of agricultural income etc).

(Part of the information and data is based on reports published by CRES and NTUA, Greece)

Renewable energy contributes less than 2 per cent of Ireland’s total energy supply. This is despite the fact that Ireland has rich renewable energy resources.

Wood is the single most important renewable energy source. Small-scale CHP plants have recently been established, with Northern Ireland leading the way.

The forestry sector in Ireland has increased over the past decade, with room for greater expansion. This improves the potential for wood-based energy systems. Currently, wood-waste from mills and craft factories are used in the existing systems.

Short-rotation crops are another likely future source of biomass. As with other European countries there is pressure on farmers to find alternative uses for agricultural land. Changes in European Agricultural Policy will determine to what extent this becomes viable.

The main focus in Ireland at the moment is for domestic wood-fuel applications. Publicity material is produced aimed at individuals to persuade them to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Wood pellets and briquettes are amongst the highly promoted materials, but at present Ireland has no capacity for manufacturing them. These items are imported in small amounts.

86 per cent of the Republic of Ireland’s energy is imported. The implementation of renewable energy sources is regarded as a means to provide its own energy and not be dictated by external generation companies. This provides an opportunity for an increase in the use of biomass. The Irish Government has earmarked between 6.3 and 10 million € for wind and biomass projects. The target is to have 12 per cent of total energy production by 2010. Biomass is believed to be an important factor in determining whether or not Ireland can achieve this target.

Investment grants are available for biomass projects, and the amount is determined by categories. Projects, which are deemed to support the interests of the general public, may obtain a 100 per cent grant. The majority of projects will only be eligible for 20 to 30 per cent.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland can afford an increase of 13 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. However, predictions show that carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise by 25 per cent by that date. Renewable energy sources such as biomass are seen as a means by which Ireland can meet its international agreements.

Also in Italy the most important biomass resource is domestic firewood. Some industrial by-products and wood wastes are available. A number of experimental plots of short rotation coppice exist, but they are not utilized for energy recovery, nor are the straw resources used in energy production. There are unknown amounts of other biomass resources available, like fruit, wine and olive prunings.

In Italy the production of renewable energy from biomass was underdeveloped till the end of the 90's. ITABIA, the Italian Biomass Association, mentions the following main reasons:

Between 1998-1999 a lot of effort was made to define a new political framework for the bioenergy sector in line with the White Paper of the EC. The first National Programme for Renewable Energy from Biomass was launched in June 1998 and was followed by the National Biomass Valorisation Programme one year later. In 1999 a National White Paper on Renewables and in 2000 a Biofuel Programme were approved.

There are remarkable wood waste resources in the Netherlands, but other domestic biomass resources are quite small. Domestic (residential) firewood has to be imported to the Netherlands. Studies have shown that the domestic availability of woodfuels is insufficient to meet the ambitious targets for bio-energy, that are derived from the formulated policy objectives for renewable energy in 2020.

As the most important biofuel in the Netherlands is the biomass fraction of the waste, fed in waste incinerators, the real amounts of biomass are very difficult to estimate. In the beginning of 2000 a ban on landfill for combustible waste fractions was introduced, to stimulate the use of these fractions in energy production. As a consequence, a new industry has emerged that is aiming at the pre-treatment of mixed industrial waste into RDF pellets. Part of these RDF pellets are shipped to Belgium and Germany to be used as fuel in cement ovens and upgrated fractions of RDF are exported to Sweden as fuel for district heating systems.

Biomass based block heating systems have not yet been introduced in the Netherlands. Natural gas extracted from domestic resources is available in nearly all areas of the Netherlands, at a relatively low price. Although the prices for wood pellets and wood chips are low as well, the typical payback period for a biomass fired system is considered too long.

Coal power plants are expected to have a large impact on the future price of biofuels, since they will be the major consumers. With strongly increasing environmental taxes on natural gas however, biomass combustion may become a more attractive alternative for space heating.

Forest covers 38 % of the national territorial area of Portugal, so forest residues and industrial by-products are substantial biomass resources in Portugal. In rural areas heating with biomass is still quite traditional. Municipalities installed in the beginning of the 1990s, with the support of the VALOREN programme, hundreds of heating-units using biomass in social buildings and schools.

Besides using wood as fuel there are examples with agricultural biomass (olive pits, almond shells or pruned vine twigs) as fuel for heating public buildings or swimming pools.

The Portuguese national plan, the Action Plan for Municipalities lays the basis for the promotion of renewables use and energy management at municipal level. It includes training, technical assistance and financial advice activities, as well as creation of local energy teams or agencies.

Even if there are ambitious objectives of the general energy policy to boost the RES development, presently the VAT rate for biomass is higher then that for other kinds of concurrent energy sources (17% against 5%).

Spain owns huge biomass resources like straw and other agricultural wastes. To some extend there is also wood wastes from furniture industry and other industrial by-products. All of the domestic firewood resources and all of the industrial black liquors are already used, but just about 10 % of the other biomass fractions (agricultural wastes, wastes of olive industry) is currently used. Wood waste resources are not yet utilised for energy purposes. The greatest number of biomass fuelled boilers can be found in the olive industry, even if there is also some CHP plants in the municipal sector.

The Spanish Promotion Plan on Renewable Energy Sources has identified the barriers to develop energy from biomass and lists measures to overcome them. The main target is to enhance power generation from biomass, even if biomass for domestic heating is also included in the Promotion Plan. Emphasis has been put in improving the supply chain logistics to lower the costs of biomass utilisation, as well as in different R&D measures and in special demonstration projects.

The Plan's target is to cover 12% of the total energy demand in Spain from renewable sources by 2010. According to the Promotion Plan the contribution of renewable energy should be increased from 7.1 Mtoe in 1998 to 16.6 Mtoe in 2010, it means generating sufficient resources to multiply the current contribution by 2.3.

16 per cent of the Swedish energy market relies on bio-fuels. The fuels are mainly indigenous and consist of wood fuels (logs, bark chips and energy forest), black liquors from pulp mills, straw, energy grasses and wastes. These are used in the forest-products industry, district-heating plants and detached house sector, as well as for electricity production.

At present bio-fuels make a limited contribution to the total electricity production in Sweden but new legislation should increase opportunities for bio-fuels to be used. An electricity directive has been introduced to promote competition within the industry. The high capital costs associated with renewable energy technology will be off-set by the introduction of fixed low prices for electricity from renewable sources. The aim is to increase the contribution of renewable energy from 14 per cent to 22 per cent by 2010.

Forestry is well established in Sweden and as a result its utilisation of bio-fuels is above average in Europe. CHP plants run on by-products from the wood-industry to provide both heat and electricity. This process can effectively use wood pulps to produce heat while recovering chemicals that have been used in the treatment of wood.

The number of district-heating systems has quadrupled since 1990, which has improved the market for bio-fuels. It is also expected that stricter controls on the combustion of wastes and refuse will increase costs and as a result bio-fuels will be more attractive.

The detached house sector is an important factor in the use of bio-fuels. Although not a large sector, it does contribute significantly to the use of bio-fuels. Property owners, particularly in agricultural or rural areas with good access to forest, are increasingly using wood as a source of heat.

Energy crops are another potential source of biomass energy for Sweden. At present, approximately 14,000 ha of agricultural land are used but this is expected to improve, as the European Common Agricultural Policy reduces its subsidies, the farmers will be looking for alternative uses of agricultural land. There are further opportunities to increase the use of straw and energy-grasses.

In Sweden, investment grants are available, particularly for combined-heat-and-power plants. 5.5 million € will be invested over the next five years. Grants are available at 332 € per kW installed, up to a maximum of 25 per cent of total capital costs.

The biomass market is set to continue over the coming years. There will be greater use of wood and wood-wastes and an increase in the production of energy crops.

Only 2.8 per cent of the UK’s total energy production comes from renewable energy; of that, 82 per cent comes from biomass. Renewable energy production rose by 8 per cent in 2000, and has doubled over the last seven years. Renewable electricity accounts for about 2.5 per cent of the total generation. At this rate it will be extremely difficult for the UK Government to meet the proposed European target of twelve per cent from renewable sources by 2010.

For over a decade, successive UK Governments, and other bodies, including the European Commission, have been considering taxes on energy and/or on the use of carbon, in the general context of measures to fight global warming. At last, such a measure, the Climate-Change Levy has been introduced in the UK.

The enabling law for the Climate-Change Levy was the Finance Act, 2000. The Climate-Change Levy is essentially a tax on the use by industry and commerce (but not by domestic customers) of electricity, gas, coal (and lignite) and coke. The money collected by the Government from this new tax will be re-distributed mainly as reductions in National-Insurance contributions by employers.

CCL has been set initially at the level of 0.43 pence/kWh for electricity, and at other rates for other fuels on which the Levy is payable, but there are also some rebates and exemptions. For example, all oils, gas used for road-fuel, and wastes within the meaning of the Environmental Protection Act, 1990, are exempted. The exemption of oils from the CCL is said by HM Customs & Excise to be because they are already subject to Excise Duty.

Another measure to increase the renewables market in the UK is the introduction, from April, 2002, of the The Renewables Obligation which will oblige electricity-suppliers to secure a percentage of their power from renewable sources; that percentage can be expected to be set initially, and to be increased from time to time, in step with political priorities.

The potential for an increase in the use of biomass in the UK could also be dependent on the agricultural industry. Farmers within member-States of the European Union have been facing a steady decline in income, with a short- to medium-term threat of even less support via the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Enlargement of the Union will draw in new States in which there is a much greater dependency on agriculture, and much lower standards of living. Thus farmers need to obtain new sources of income.

If energy from biomass and wastes is to make the contribution to renewable energy that is required by the policies of the EC in the medium term, such novel methods of energy farming will be required. But, at present, it is the lower-cost fuels (such as chicken-litter and materials sorted from municipal, commercial and industrial waste-streams) that seem likely to be used first.

Investment in this area is limited, due mainly to the high capital costs associated with renewable energy. The market is subject to ever changing regulations and new legislation is to be brought in soon, and as a result there are few companies willing to make a firm commitment to investment.

Funding is available from the UK Government for projects based on biomass. Recently the Community Energy Programme has been launched to provide funding for small-scale projects. Under this scheme, it is community-based projects that are being targeted. There are some notable large investments in the UK, including the ARBRE project. There are also a number of projects that have successfully gained European funding.

At present it is political uncertainty that is delaying the growth of a biomass project in the UK. There is the potential for both wood and straw based markets to grow, especially in light of current problems in the agricultural sector. There is funding available for projects of this nature, but it is private sector funding that is lacking. Until the political situation is clarified this is unlikely to change because of the high capital costs involved.

The European Commission’s 1997 Renewable Energy White Paper set targets for countries in the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the depleting fossil fuel reserves.

Countries within Europe are at many different stages in their development in the field of renewable energy and in particular their use of biomass for energy.

There are still, many opportunities for the future development of European countries in the bio-energy market. Each country has been described as having factors which influence its ability to increase or hold back its progress.

The report shows, briefly, how thirteen countries are approaching that challenge.

REFERENCES

Bio-mass-Information-Centre in Germany: www.biomass-info.net

British Biogen; www.britishbiogen.co.uk

The Centre for Biomass Technology; www.videncenter.dk

The Centre for Biomass Technology; ‘Straw for Energy Production’, 1999.

Department of Trade and Industry; ‘UK Energy in Brief,’ 2001.

European Biomass Association (Aebiom); www.ecop.ucl.ac.be/aebiom

European Commission; Green Paper - Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply; 2001

IDEA; Plan for the Promotion of Renewable Energy in Spain; Summary; 2000

Irish Bio-energy Association Publication ‘How bio-energy can help prevent climate change’. 2000.

Irish Energy Centre; www.irish-energy.ie/reio.htm

Professor Dan Asplund, ‘Bio-energy in Finland’; 2001.

Rakos, Cristian; Bioheat - Interim Report; 2002

Swedish ; www.stem.se

Vesterinen, P. & Alakangas, E.; Export & import possibilities and fuel prices of biomass in 20 European countries - Task 2; 2001


Source Green Paper - Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply (2001)