For two consecutive years, less biomass passed through Dutch coal-fired power plants. Last year, that reversed. The plants burned approximately the same amount again as in 2023, and, just as in previous years, the burned material consisted almost entirely of residual streams from the wood processing industry. However, its origin shifted remarkably strongly towards Asia. This is stated in the annual report published in August by research firm CE Delft, commissioned by the Dutch Biomass Certification Foundation.
In total, 1.792.972 tonnes of biomass were used in 2025 to replace coal, 13 percent more than the 1.583.259 tonnes of a year earlier.
The figures are derived from the energy companies' annual declarations of conformity. These provide confidential data per delivery, which, due to competition rules, may only be released in aggregated form, as otherwise they could be too easily traced back to individual companies. Behind the annual total lie 222 administrative deliveries, with an average volume of over eight thousand tonnes. The largest delivery amounted to 58.508 tonnes, the smallest to 0,6 tonnes. In total, the biomass yielded 14,5 petajoules of electricity and heat.
The Netherlands has four coal-fired power plants. The Amer plant has been running entirely on biomass since January 1, 2025, because the Coal Ban in Electricity Production Act no longer permits coal in power plants with an electrical efficiency below 44 percent as of that date.
Bark, chips and crooked pieces of wood
The share of residual streams amounted to 97,6 mass percent in 2025. This concerns material that has no destination in the sawmill, such as bark, rotten and crooked pieces of wood, small pieces of wood, and wood chips. In addition, 1,5 percent animal meal, 0,8 percent sawdust, and 0,1 percent bleaching earth from oleochemistry were burned, a type of clay used in the refining of vegetable and animal oils.
The entire input fell into category 5, the class of biogenic residual and waste streams. This has been the case since 2023. In the years 2020 through 2022, 4 to 8 percent woody biomass from forest management units still passed through. Because those streams no longer end up in the power plants, the legal requirements regarding soil management, carbon stocks, and sustainable forest management did not apply to the burned biomass last year, according to CE Delft.
Origin shifts towards Asia
The origin of biomass changed significantly in 2025. North America remained the largest source region at 43,5 percent, but in 2024 that share was still nearly 64 percent. Asia grew from 28,7 to 42,5 percent, and EU countries from 7,6 to 14 percent. As in the two preceding years, nothing came from European countries outside the European Union.
To demonstrate the supply chain, the energy companies relied primarily on the SBP and GGL schemes. SBP covered 54,1 percent of deliveries, GGL 42,5 percent. Better Biomass accounted for 3,3 percent; verification was applied to a small remainder.
The report for 2025 is shorter than those of previous years. This is due to the expiration of the Biomass Sustainability Covenant, which energy companies and environmental organizations concluded in 2015 as part of the Energy Agreement. Among other things, it stipulates that subsidized co-firing and combined firing may generate a maximum of 25 petajoules of renewable energy per year. The environmental organizations announced in 2021 that they were withdrawing from the covenant, but the text contains no provision for early withdrawal, and the energy companies have continued to have the annual reports drawn up.
The conformity assessment bodies conclude that the biomass was used in 2025 in accordance with the sustainability requirements of the Regulation on the Conformity Assessment of Solid Biomass for Energy Applications. For the years thereafter, the framework changes: at the request of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the sustainability requirements of the European Renewable Energy Directive have applied since 1 January 2026.
Source: CE Delft
Photo: Roland Goovers
