Sustainable biomass production for energy in the Philippines

Abstract

This study aims to estimate land availability for biomass production, identify and evaluate the biomass production options in terms of yield per hectare and financial viability, estimate sustainable biomass production for energy, and estimate the energy potential of biomass production in the Philippines. In estimating the area for biomass production, two land availability scenarios are considered, namely, Scenario 1 (S1) which assumes that there will be no increase in the area under permanent crops, arable lands, forest plantations and agroforestry (AF) lands by 2010 (with 1997 as the base year), and Scenario 2 (S2) which assumes that the total land area under permanent crops, arable lands, forest plantations and AF increases by about 10% by 2010. Three possible scenarios are used to account for the projected biomass demands by the year 2010, namely incremental biomass demand (IBD), sustainable biomass demand (SBD), and full biomass demand (FBD). Under IBD the surplus land for bioenergy plantation would be 1.94 and 1.16 Mha under S1 and S2, respectively. While under SBD, the remaining land for bioenergy plantation is 1.44 and 0.66 Mha under S1and S2, respectively. Because of the high value of biomass requirements, FBD cannot be applied in the country. Therefore under FBD, there will be no land available for bioenergy plantations. Three major forestry options are also considered for bioenergy production: short rotation forest plantation, long rotation forest plantation and AF. The total annual biomass production potential for energy in the country is in the range of 3.7– 20.37 Mt under the different scenarios and options. Assuming the energy content of wood is 15 GJ t −1 , energy potential of the produced biomass is 55.5 million to 305.6 million GJ. If 1 Mt of woody biomass can generate 1 TWh of electrical power, then the annual electricity generation potential also ranges from 3.7 to 20.37 TWh . The potential amount of electricity generated through bioenergy plantation would be from 3% to 22% of the country's projected electricity demand by the year 2008. Barriers and policy options for biomass production for energy are also discussed.