Tough 2020 targets boost interest for world bioenergy
The recently proposed EU Renewable Energy and Climate Change package has put Sweden into the global energy spotlight. If adopted and achieved, Sweden would have the highest renewable energy share in the EU by 2020. Using 2005 as a baseline, the EU Renewable Energy and Climate Change package outlines target proposals for increasing the share of renewable energy in each member state.
In the case of Sweden, the proposed target is a 9.2 % increase, to 49 % renewable energy, which, if achieved, would be the highest percentage in the EU by 2020. This is not as dramatic as it may seem. Sweden has no fossil fuel resources of its own and has been a bioenergy pioneer since being forced to explore alternative energy sources following the first oil crisis in the early 1970s. Today bioenergy supplies about 27 % of the country’s energy consumption.
Yet Sweden still has a lot of untapped bioenergy potential. According to the Swedish Bioenergy Association, SVEBIO, the EU 2020 target for Sweden can be met solely with bioenergy, provided Swedish politicians maintain stable and consequential steering instruments. “It is critical that the proposed EU targets continue to stimulate Sweden to go further and not dampen the development pace of bioenergy”, says Kent Nyström, managing director of SVEBIO. The increased use of biomass for energy will undoubtedly be the main strategy for the majority of EU member states in achieving their 2020 targets.
A key part of that strategy is likely to include participation at the world’s leading bioenergy event, World Bioenergy. “There is extensive practical and commercial experience of implementing bioenergy systems and technologies in Sweden,” says Alan Sherrard, project manager, at Elmia AB. “Getting one-on-one access to that know-how and experience is exactly what World Bioenergy is all about, Taking you from Know-How to Show-how”, concludes Sherrard.
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