Abstract
AbstractBiomass co‐firing with coal is a near‐term option to displace fossil fuels and can facilitate the development of biomass conversion and the build‐out of biomass supply infrastructure. A GIS‐based modeling framework (EU‐28, Norway, and Switzerland) is used to quantify and localize biomass demand for co‐firing in coal power plants and agricultural and forest residue supply potentials; supply and demand are then matched based on minimizing the total biomass transport costs (field to gate). Key datasets (e.g., land cover, land use, and wood production) are available at 1,000 m or higher resolution, while some data (e.g., simulated yields) and assumptions (e.g., crop harvest index) have lower resolution and were resampled to allow modeling at 1,000 m resolution. Biomass demand for co‐firing is estimated at 184 PJ in 2020, corresponding to an emission reduction of 18 Mt CO2. In all countries except Italy and Spain, the sum of the forest and agricultural residues available at less than 300 km from a co‐firing plant exceeds the assessed biomass demand. The total cost of transporting residues to these plants is reduced if agricultural residues can be used, as transport distances are shorter. The total volume of forest residues less than 300 km from a co‐firing plant corresponds to about half of the assessed biomass demand. Almost 70% of the total biomass demand for co‐firing is found in Germany and Poland. The volumes of domestic forest residues in Germany (Poland) available within the cost range 2–5 (1.5–3.5) €/GJ biomass correspond to about 30% (70%) of the biomass demand. The volumes of domestic forest and agricultural residues in Germany (Poland) within the cost range 2–4 (below 2) €/GJ biomass exceed the biomass demand for co‐firing. Half of the biomass demand is located within 50 km from ports, indicating that long‐distance biomass transport by sea is in many instances an option.
Highlights
The European Union (EU) aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing fossil fuel use
Co‐firing biomass in coal plants can provide a near‐term biomass market that stimulates the build‐out of the biomass supply infrastructure that can facilitate the implementation of other bioenergy options once those technologies are commercially available
We present and demonstrate a geographic information system (GIS)‐based (1,000 m resolution) modeling framework for assessing and matching biomass demand and supply patterns in the EU
Summary
The European Union (EU) aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing fossil fuel use. Previous studies of the biomass co‐firing potential in the EU include Hansson et al (2009), which assessed biomass co‐firing with coal in existing coal‐fired power plants in the EU‐27, and Bertrand, Dequiedt, and Le Cadre (2014), which matched the demand for biomass‐based electricity with the potential biomass supply in Europe. The framework is used for spatial modeling and matching of biomass demand for co‐firing in existing coal‐fired power plants with supply in the form of forest and agricultural residues. One ambition is to use the framework to assess pressures driving land‐use change and possible environmental consequences of mobilizing biomass supplies for energy, by considering both demand and supply in a geographically explicit way
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