Woody biomass used in biomass installations for local heat and power production mainly comes from the Netherlands (89%) and the immediate neighboring countries Belgium and Germany (11%) and consists mainly of local residual flows. This conclusion can be drawn from the annual woody biomass report of the Bioeconomy Platform.
The biomass residual flows consist of regular forest, nature and landscape management, post-consumer wood and biomass from the agricultural, food and timber industries. This biomass is mainly used in the form of wood chips, chips and shreds and used for various applications.
Biomass used for co-firing largely comes from the Baltic States, (Belarus) Russia and North America in the form of pellets.
The total use of woody biomass in 2019 is 2.6 million tons. This is an increase of 1 million tons compared to 2018 and is largely due to the growth in additional and co-firing. More than two million tons have been used for the production of both heat and electricity (so-called combined heat and power or CHP).
The voluntary certification of biomass was almost 50 percent. This is a doubling compared to 2018. Almost all installations also have systems for flue gas cleaning to improve air quality.
These figures have been published by Platform Bio-economies (PBE) in the annual report on the use of woody biomass for energy production. Biomass is necessary for making our economy more sustainable and achieving the climate challenge. With this report, PBE wants to contribute to a well-informed debate about the choices at hand with the recent SER Advice 'Biomass in Balance' and the final advice of the Nitrogen Problem Advisory Board. The report on woody biomass for energy generation was drawn up in collaboration with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
