Five years left – How are the EU member states contributing to the 20% target for EU's renewable energy consumption; the role of woody biomass

Published Date
Biomass and Bioenergy
December 2016, Vol.95:64–77, doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2016.09.016
Research paper

• Author 

• Svetlana Proskurina ^a,,,
• Richard Sikkema ^b
• Jussi Heinimö ^c
• Esa Vakkilainen ^a

• aLappeenranta University of Technology, Skinnarilankatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland
• bEuropean Commission – Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), Directorate Sustainable Resources/Bio-economy (D1), Italy
• cMikkeli Development Miksei Ltd, Sammonkatu 12, 50130, Mikkeli, Finland

Received 12 December 2015. Revised 27 August 2016. Accepted 15 September 2016. Available online 23 September 2016. 

Highlights

• •
  All EU-28 countries are making efforts to reach the RE EU's target.
• •
  The role of woody biomass in renewable energy as GFEC was evaluated.
• •
  Woody biomass development is unbalanced among EU-28 countries.
• •
  Some MS with high energy consumption pattern can miss own national RE targets.

Abstract

The European Union has set ambitious targets of raising the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources from 20% by 2020 to 27% by 2030. The aim of this paper is to assess the role of woody biomass in renewable energy as gross final energy consumption in the European Union (the EU-28). The paper identifies leading and lagging countries in biomass development by focusing on their current biomass use and forecasts future perspectives. The research compares and evaluates the role of biomass in renewable energy in the EU-28 focusing on countries' potential resources and policy support. The study shows that all countries are making efforts to reach the 20% target in 2020 and exhibit a trend of increasing renewable energy as gross final energy consumption towards the new target of 2030. Solid biomass plays an important role in reaching the EU's renewable energy targets. The majority of the EU-28 countries are close to reaching their national renewable energy targets and show a very attractive biomass development. Unless energy consumption decreases however, some member states will face serious problems in reaching their renewable energy target in 2020. Following our analysis, the largest problems occur in those MS having a relative high-energy consumption pattern: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is unlikely that they can comply with expected renewable energy demand, unless they mobilize more woody biomass from their available domestic potential (France, Germany) or considerably increase their woody biomass imports (mostly wood pellets) from elsewhere (United Kingdom).

Keywords

Renewable energy

Bioenergy

Biomass

Renewable energy targets

National Renewable Energy Action Plan

European Union

List of abbreviations, conversion factors and definitions

AEBIOM

European Biomass Association

CFB

Circulating fluidized bed

CHP

Combined heat and power

CO₂

Carbon dioxide

EEA

European Environment Agency

EU

European Union

EU-28

Member States of the European Union since January 2013, when Croatia joined the EU

FSC

Forest Stewardship Council

GDP

Gross Domestic Production

GFEC

Gross Final Energy Consumption

GHG

Greenhouse Gas

GIC

Gross Inland Consumption

H&C

Heating & Cooling sectors

IEA

International Energy Agency

IEC

Inland Energy Consumption

IRENA

International Renewable Energy Agency

JRC

Joint Research Centre

MS

Member State

NREAP

National Renewable Energy Action Plan

R&D

Research and Development

RE

Renewable Energy

REN 21

Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century

RES

Renewable Energy Sources

RES-E

Renewable Energy Sources in Electricity sector

RES-H

Renewable Energy Sources in Heating sector

ROC

Renewables Obligations Certificate

UK

United Kingdom

WBA

World Bioenergy Association

Units

GWh

Gigawatt-hour(s) = 1000 MWh

1 MWh ≈ 0.51 tonnes of wood pellets = 8.98 primary GJ

bases on lower heating value of 17.6 GJ per tonne and an efficiency rate for 10% pellet co-firing of 40.1% [1]

Mm³ = 1000 000

m³ = 7.1 PJ (global average) [2]

Definitions

Bioenergy

Bioenergy refers to energy derived from biofuels

Biomass

Refers to the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agricultural (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste

Woody biomass

Refers to the trees and woody plants, including limbs, tops, needles, leaves, and other woody parts, grown in a forest, woodland, or rangeland environment, that are the by-products of forest management

Biofuels (=biomass fuel)

Fuel produced directly or indirectly from biomass. The fuel may have undergone mechanical, chemical or biological processing or conversion or it may have had a previous use. Biofuel refers to solid, gaseous and liquid biomass-derived fuels

Bioliquids

Refers to the liquid fuels made from biomass for energy purposes other than transport (i.e. heating and electricity)

Gross inland consumption of energy (GIC)

Gross inland consumption of energy (GIC) is the first aggregate in the national energy balances. It refers to “apparent” consumption and is derived from the formula that takes into account primary production, exports, imports and stock changes. It includes the primary energy from fossil fuels, from renewable energies (biomass, wind, solar, hydro), derived heat and trade of electrical energy

Gross final energy consumption (GFEC)

Gross final energy consumption (GFEC) is calculated from national energy balances. GFEC starts with the GIC data, after which transformation losses, distribution losses and own consumption of electricity and heat within the energy sector are subtracted. The GFEC data can be divided over the sectors involved in the energy consumption, after the subtraction of non-energy consumption (e.g. use of cokes for chemical products). At the end, we remain with final energy consumption by industry, transport and households [3]

 Table 1

Table 1.

 Table 2

Table 2.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

 Table 3

Table 3.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 8.

• DOCX (25K)

• ∗ 
  Corresponding author.

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953416303063