Gas, oil and lignite are widely used in Eastern Europe. The efficient generation of heat and electricity using woody biomass, however, is still in its infancy. The EU Horizon 2020 funded project BioRES – Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy introduces the concept of “Biomass Logistic and Trade Centres” (BLTCs) in Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, based on international cooperation with European technology leaders in Germany, Austria and Finland. BioRES increased market uptake of domestic supply chains for quality-controlled woody bioenergy products, from sustainable forestry and wood residues, by means of developing BLTCs as regional hubs.
BLTCs are regional hubs which link wood supply from forest owners, saw mills and other wood producers with demand from bulk and small buyers. They organise provision, processing and dispatching of woody bioenergy products and often combine these services with heat contracting and maintenance. The focus lies on domestic market uptake with short transport distances. At the initial investment stage, focus may be on marketing and sales. Once the local market reaches critical volumes, allowing for the decreasing cost of investments, these platforms can develop into fully-fledged BLTCs with their own production, storage and logistic facilities. This phased approach reduces the economic risk for investors.
In Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Finland BLTCs of different types, with their own production, storage and logistic facilities, are competitively operating. Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria are forest rich countries, hence there is potential, but the sector is not very developed as of yet. Of the current sources of renewable energy in the region, biomass is the most significant, with the forestry sector being the main biomass supplier.
It is important that woody bioenergy production follows resource efficiency principles. This means extracting more energy from the same material input, as well as avoiding negative environmental effects. This is not currently the case in Serbia, Croatia or Bulgaria, where firewood is used for heating, but mainly burnt in inefficient domestic stoves and fireplaces, which also cause additional hazards, such as particulates in the air. Local and regional governments, forest owners and interested local investors are important key actors in developing local value chains for resource efficient mobilisation of woody bioenergy products from verified sources. In order to use woody bioenergy as a renewable energy source, it needs to be sustainably managed - from the forest through to combustion. In this way the high quality of woody bioenergy products and their long-term availability is guaranteed. This is essential for woody bioenergy to be a climate and eco-friendly energy source of the future.
BioRES aimed to establish 6-8 new BLTCs in at least 2 out of the 3 countries were it operated. At the end of the project, 9 BLTCs were created of which eight centers with physical infrastructure and one, Kapela in Croatia, a web-based BLTC at the moment.
