Around half of the energy consumed in Europe is used for our heating and cooling needs. Residential heating generates the most part of this demand (45%), while industrial, commercial or service buildings represent 37% and 18% respectively. While the use of biomass for residential heating has grown considerably in the last years in many European countries (i.e. Germany, Austria, Italy), thanks to the introduction of small scale systems such as pellet stoves and small pellet boilers, the use of biomass heat in industrial and service buildings such as swimming pools, hospitals, hotels, food processing industries etc. is still facing several obstacles. Reducing this gap is therefore an important step to contribute to reach Europe’s RES target for 2020 and especially for 2030.
In the framework of the Bioenergy4Business project, lunched in 2014 and funded by the Horizon 2020 programme, researchers of the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ) with the support of project partners, have conducted a thorough analysis of the barriers that still hamper the penetration of biomass heating in these market segments and the strategies to overcome them, in eleven European countries. In doing so, the partners have directly engaged with business operators and stakeholders through interviews and workshops, with the aim of collecting the common views of these actors in their respective sectors and countries. The main drivers to switch from fossil fuels to solid biomass for heating are GHG emission reductions, the use of local resources and the possible cost savings. Despite this, difficulties in financing, lack of awareness of business operators and planners, fuel quality, and infrastructure integration have been identified as common obstacles for the further development of biomass heating in these sectors.
Financial barriers
Despite many countries have introduced grants and other subsidies for the purchase and installation of biomass boilers, the higher investment cost of biomass heating system compared to conventional systems is still perceived as major obstacle by business operators and planners. Access to credit is also a persistent problem for business owners who are often required to provide a large share of initial equity capital and to guarantee the security of biomass supply with long-term supply agreements. Furthermore, with the recent low prices of fossil fuels, the cost-competitiveness of woodchips and pellets has been reduced.
Lack of awareness and training of personnel
For many of the businesses in the considered market segments, the need to provide specific training to personnel to manage biomass heating systems is perceived as a limitation. Indeed, although modern biomass boilers are fully automatized, some basic specific skills are required to deal with things such as the quality of the feedstock or the disposal of the ashes. Furthermore, quite often business owners and planners still claim a lack of information on the available funding mechanisms for biomass heating systems in their respective countries.
Sustainability issues
This is usually a minor problem in small scale applications based on biomass supply from local sources, however some of the interviews revealed there is still uncertainty from several stakeholders on the actual sustainability of using biomass for heating.
Smart and flexible heating networks to integrate more renewables in the urban environment
The picture drawn by this study makes it clear that in order to further develop the use of sustainable biomass heating in view of the 2030 renewable targets, there is still a need for stable promotion policies, both in the form of direct and indirect support measures for biomass heating technologies and in the form of continued efforts in raising awareness, training and education of local planners, authorities, and business owners.
In addition to these measures the authors indicate the development of smart and flexible heating networks as an additional and innovative tool to allow the adoption of renewable heating in productive and commercial buildings. Many central and Northern European cities are served by district heating networks, which are connected to a centralized heating or cogeneration plant.
At present the supply of heat into these infrastructures by third parties, in a similar way to what happens with feed-in systems of renewable electricity, is not regulated by specific rules and this hinders a wider production and use of renewable heating in urban environments. Therefore, filling the regulatory and technical gaps for the development of smart heating networks is a policy priority at European level, to allow for the integration of more renewable energy in the heating sector. In this context, the current Commission’s proposal for the new Renewable Energy Directive published last December, includes measures to open access rights to local district heating and cooling systems for producers of renewables.
About Bioenergy4Business
The international Bioenergy4Business project supports and promotes the partial substitution of fossil fuels used for heating with available bioenergy sources, in the European Union and beyond.The project supports the use of sound business and financing models, the creation of an enabling environment and the careful assessment and implementation of bioenergy heat in both district heating and in-house applications. Targeting policy makers, Bioenergy4Business encourages the development of policy frameworks for sustainable, profitable, and high-quality bioenergy heat. Bioenergy4Business is a project funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union.
Find more resources, publications and planning tools on the Bioenergy4Business website.
This post is based on the paper “Bioenergy4Business – Solid biomass for heat purposes in the business sector barriers and opportunities” written by Thorsten Schmidt-Baum, Karina Bloche-Daum and Daniela Thraen- DBFZ, Germany, and presented at the 24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition.
