IEA Bioenergy has just released its updated country reports, showing the trends of bioenergy in the IEA Bioenergy Member States up to 2019, looking at the role of bioenergy in the total energy supply (TES), in electricity consumption, total fuel/heat consumption and in transport energy consumption.
The individual country reports are available as separate reports. The summary report 'IEA Bioenergy Countries' Report – update 2021: Implementation of bioenergy in the IEA Bioenergy member countries' provides a comparative overview of the results for the different countries.
Local circumstances are important
The IEA Bioenergy Member States have different characteristics that influence their renewable energy and bioenergy potential. The size of the country and population density, as well as topography, climatic conditions and land use distribution are particularly important. Countries with low population densities generally have greater potential availability of domestic biomass resources, while countries with high population densities tend to rely much more on imports for their energy and resource needs.
Energy mix – bioenergy represents more than half of renewable energy in most countries
- Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) still play a dominant role in most countries. Only in Brazil, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland do renewable energy and nuclear energy represent more than half of the total energy supply.
- There is a strong downward trend of coal in several countries, especially in Europe and North America; However, over the past 5 years there has been an increase in the use of natural gas in many countries, partially offsetting the decline in coal. Fossil oil consumption is fairly stable.
- Apart from countries with a lot of hydropower, bioenergy represents more than half of the renewable energy supply in most countries.
(Data source: IEA (2021) World Energy Balances and Renewables Information)
Types of biomass
Four categories of biomass are considered: solid biomass, biogas/biomethane and liquid biofuels, and the renewable part of municipal waste.
- Solid biomass includes forestry wood and residues, residues from wood processing and the pulp and paper industry, agricultural residues (straw) and wood waste. Solid biomass remains the dominant category of biomass used for energy in all countries.
- Germany is the most advanced in its use biogas/biomethane; Denmark, among other things, has caught up and has made great strides, with biogas consumption almost tripling in 4 years.
- Liquid biofuels are emerging again as a transport fuel after some delay in the period 2010-2015.
- The use of municipal waste (MSW) for the production of electricity and/or heat is linked to the development phase of waste management in a country that is quite advanced in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Typically, about half of municipal waste is renewable/biobased.
Renewable energy and bioenergy in different sectors
Bioenergy plays a role in the three most important energy sectors: electricity, fuel/heat consumption and transport energy consumption. While different types of renewable energy sources (hydropower, wind, solar, biomass) play a role in electricity generation, bioenergy is the dominant type of renewable energy for heat supply and for the use of transport energy.
- Electricity: The most significant growth for renewable electricity over the past decade has been in wind energy, followed by solar energy and biomass-based energy. In Denmark, Finland and Estonia, bioelectricity represents more than 15% of electricity production, and also more than 10% in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Brazil. Bioelectricity is mainly produced from solid biomass, with the exception of some countries that mainly use biogas (Germany, Italy and Croatia) and for Switzerland that are more dependent on MSW. Sustainability of biomass purchasing is high on the agenda.
- Warmth: fossil fuels still dominate, usually more than 75% of the total fuel/heat supply. For fuel/heat supply, biomass is the dominant renewable source. The traditional use of biomass in emerging economies is declining (often replaced by fossil fuels). The most significant progress in the modern use of biomass for heat has been made in countries with a strong presence of district heating and/or wood-processing industries. Denmark, Estonia, Sweden and Finland made significant progress in replacing fossil fuels with biomass in central heat production.
- Transport: This sector is the most challenging sector and is still 95% dominated by fossil fuels in most countries. Brazil and Sweden have achieved a share of renewable energy in transport of 25% and 21% respectively, while Norway and Finland also reached more than 10%. Renewable energy is dominated by biofuels, with biodiesel and bioethanol being the dominant types of biofuels. In recent years there has been an increasing trend towards advanced (often residue-based) biofuels.
Sustainable electricity is considered an important option in transport, especially in the automotive segment. Currently, electricity consumption only represents between 0,1 and 4% of transport energy (most of it in rail). While electric vehicle sales will increase in the coming years, fleet replacement will take time and fuels will still be needed by the automotive sector for decades to come. Moreover, the heavy and long-distance transport sectors will remain dependent on fuels for some time to come. Renewable fuels therefore remain an important option to displace fossil fuels in transport.
You can read the summary country report via the following link:
https://www.ieabioenergy.com/blog/publications/iea-bioenergy-countries-report-update-2021/
You can find the individual country reports via the following link:
https://www.ieabioenergy.com/blog/publications/2021-country-reports/
