The biomass potential in the 10 newly elected countries (alphabetically: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) was quantified. Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey were also included in the overview.
The potential was estimated by terms of annual dry available quantities (tn/yr) and amounts of thermal energy (GWhth) that could annually be saved from conventional primary energy sources. The calculation methodology was described in detail, In the case of crops residues the term availability was introduced as the percentage of crop residue that can be utilized for electricity generation, considering other possible uses of these residues.
Data collected for each country:
- Location,
- Population,
- Climate,
- Gross domestic product and use,
- Electricity production and consumption;
- Biomass energy potential in GWhth/year for each kind of resource;
- Overall biomass energy potential.
Most of the NAS countries could well replace part of the conventional sources with biofuels to produce about 10% of the electricity currently produced. Specifically to the BioHPR concept, and any other small-scale gasification technology, agricultural and forestry residues should be considered first.
MSW fuelled applications require sorting and processing of wastes prior to energetic utilization and a far more complex gas cleaning integrated system that suits better to large-scale applications.