How to adapt to the new market regulation for biomass towards 2020
Keys to the new European strategy and challenges for the sector over the coming years.
The 10th International Bioenergy Congress (10ºCIB) organised by AVEBIOM, on 22nd of September in Valladolid within the framework of Expobiomasa, will be tackling the major challenges that the biomass sector will be facing over the coming years and which can be summed up as: guarantees for sustainability, supply and energy efficiency, and increasingly reduced emissions.
Traceable and sustainable supply
The pellet market is currently debating two key questions: pellet sustainability and sustainability certification. At the 10th Congress, certifying bodies and enterprises will be discussing the convenience and difficulties of implementation.
Why certify sustainability?
The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) was set up in 2013 under the leadership of Europe's main thermal power plant operators using biomass, particularly wood pellets – in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.
The SBP has developed norms and processes that allow companies to show that they meet the legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements for the source of their solid biomass, and also facilitate collection of the data required by regulators.
The procedures defined by the SBP analyse the collection, transport and energy and carbon balances along the biomass supply chain to complement forestry certification systems such as FSC and PEFC, in order to comply with the regulatory requirements that energy producers using biomass must meet.
The system is adaptable and will make it possible to incorporate future EU and national requirements. Simon Archer, the SBP's technical manager, will be giving details of the process at 10ºCIB.
The certified producer's view
Latvian pellet producer Latgran Ltd. Is implementing the SBP system. They began activity in 2004 and their customers include major European electrical and thermal energy producers, although they also serve smaller-scale users such as public institutions and industries. They produce over 400,000 tonnes a year at their four factories and the manager, Peter Andreasson, will explain the advantages and difficulties of adopting the SBP scheme.
Spanish manufacturer, Pellets Asturias, will be explaining the steps to take and the obstacles to be found when registering on the UK's Biomass Supplier List. The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change has recently introduced new sustainability criteria for obtaining the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), aimed at ensuring that biomass meets the Government's targets for CO2 emissions reductions. These new criteria affect solid biofuel producers and traders that want to obtain the RHI for both domestic and industrial use.
Increasingly reduced emissions
Nathalie Hemeleers, policy advisor to the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM), will explain the main new features in European norms, both those that have been passed and those under discussion.
Ecodesign and ecolabelling
The Ecodesign regulations for biomass boilers and solid fuel local space heaters, which were adopted by the Commission on 28th April 2015 come into force from 2020 for boilers under 500 kW, and from 2022 for stoves or similar under 50 kW. Regarding the energy labelling for this equipment, the regulations were adopted by the Commission in April and are currently at the control stage.
The new requirements for Ecolabelling will be mandatory in the EU from 2017. The labelling will allow the best biomass space heating equipment to reach A++ class, ahead of those used by fossil fuels. European boiler and stove manufacturers will discuss how the new rules affect them.
Emissions limitation in medium-scale facilities
Details of the Directive, which is currently being negotiated by the European Council and Parliament, will be given at the Congress. The Directive will regulate emissions caused by combustion installations from 1 to 50 MW using any fuel. There is currently a legal void for this power range, whereas anything over 50 MW is subject to the Directive on industrial emissions (DEI 2010/75) and anything under 1 MW is governed by the Ecodesign Directive for energy products (2009/125/CE).
The European Council and Parliament reached provisional agreement in June on the deadlines for putting the future directive into force, which will be in 2025 for installations over 5 MW and 2030 for powers between 1 and 5 MW. Still under debate is the year 2030 for district heating systems over 5 MW and installations that use biomass as the main fuel. The agreement must be passed by the Council and the ENVI Committee of the Parliament. New installations will have to apply the available technical improvements from 2018-2019.
Further information about how to attend the 10th International Biofuel Congress is at expobiomasa.com
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