Bioenergy in an Agroforestry Economy under Crisis: Complement and Conflict. La Araucanía, Chile, 1990–2016

Fabián Almonacid

doi:10.3390/su10124478

Abstract

Following the collapse of Chile’s energy mix in 2000, standalone bioenergy generation plants were installed in Lautaro, Region of La Araucanía, in 2011, purchasing biomass from the forest and agricultural industries. This article resorts to a historical method, using government sources—particularly projects submitted to the State’s environmental approval process; news reports; corporate information and documents; interviews with employees, entrepreneurs and experts; field visits; and general literature. This article focuses on the success case of a bioenergy generation company and its relationship with wood and agricultural biomass suppliers in a region where traditional farming and forest plantations are under crisis. Currently, two additional bioenergy projects are underway in the Region. Beyond the economic crisis that is currently affecting this Region, local communities have increasingly been opposing the new plants and the price of electric energy has dropped, leading to an uncertain future for bioenergy in the south of Chile.

Highlights

To reduce energy dependence on hydrocarbons and the resulting pollution, there was world consensus on the need to increase renewable energies in the short term
This paper explores bioenergy, i.e., the production of energy from wood and agricultural biomass developed at a relatively significant scale within La Araucanía in the past few years
This article is a historical study of bioenergy generation in La Araucanía, south of Chile, focusing on the experience of Comasa, a company located in Lautaro

Summary

Introduction

To reduce energy dependence on hydrocarbons and the resulting pollution, there was world consensus on the need to increase renewable energies in the short term. In 2009, Europe made a pledge to reach, by 2020, 20% of renewables in the total energy produced, and 10% in transport. In the United States, almost 30% of the use covered by oil is expected to come from biomass energy by 2030 [1]. Among the new sources of energy, bioenergy emerged as an excellent response to the energy issue, given the abundance of biomass in the form of farm and wood waste, asl well as crops suitable for that purpose. There are large biomass volumes coming from farming and agribusiness waste. Estimated future availability is expected to reach a yearly 71 million tons of biomass for bioenergy in California by 2050 [4]

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Discussion

Conclusion