‘Pellets for power’ paved the way to import sustainable biomass from Ukraine

‘Pellets for power’ paved the way to import sustainable biomass from Ukraine

‘Pellets for power’ paved the way to import sustainable biomass from Ukraine

Ukraine has discovered the potential of biomass, partly thanks to the three-year biomass development project ‘Pellets for Power'. The project has paved the way for the Netherlands and other EU members to import sustainably produced biomass from this Eastern European country. ‘Pellets for Power' was carried out by Wageningen UR together with several private partners and supported by Netherlands Enterprise Agency's sustainable Biomass Import Programme (DBI).  The project revolved around straw, reeds and switchgrass (herbaceous biomass). The possibility to produce pellets from these biomass varieties in an economically viable and sustainable manner was investigated. Netherlands Enterprise Agency's DBI offered the opportunity to speed up the business development and also focus on certification. This means that the pellets should be certifiable (in this case NTA 8080) and not compete with food production and thus be iLUC (indirect land use change) free. The production chains were set-up to comply with biomass certification demands as set by the NTA 8080 certification standard in order to be sure the biomass pellets would have access to the European and Dutch biomass markets. Results now show significant promise, especially for reeds and for switchgrass. Reeds and switchgrass Project managers Wolter Elbersen and Ronald Poppens of Wageningen UR are both optimistic about the chances for reeds. Ukraine boasts more than 1,2 million hectares of swamp land and huge patches of reeds. According to Elbersen, the quality of this crop appears high enough for pellets and under certain conditions a sustainable harvest is possible. Poppens says harvesting the reeds leads to less carbon emissions since Ukrainians mostly burn reeds to make hunting and fishing possible. Switchgrass also has a lot to offer since the research showed that switchgrass can grow on marginal soils. However, Elbersen notes that growing this crop on less fertile soils, makes for a higher cost and the GHG (greenhouse gas) balance per unit is also less favourable. Still, it does preclude iLUC. Permits granted As a result of ‘Pellets for Power' the first Ukrainian companies now produce reeds for local heat demand. Phytofuels for example has signed multi-year development and harvest contracts with several villages, owners of the swamplands by Ukrainian law. Based on these cooperative deals, legislative studies generated during the project and existing guidelines for sustainability, authorities have now granted permits for the harvesting of around 9,000 hectares of reeds. Similar permits are expected for switchgrass production. Affordable alternative to natural gas If the production expands, biomass can turn into an affordable alternative to Russia-imported natural gas for the poorer Ukrainian population. If the quality of the production increases, and the costs per unit decrease, this kind of sustainable bioenergy may become interesting to EU countries including The Netherlands. A first batch of 10 tonnes of reeds pellets was exported to the Netherlands in Spring 2013 as a pilot. This batch was used in a trial run for energy returns in the Dutch biomass power plant of Marum. The energy was able to heat amongst others the town hall, the library and a swimming pool in Marum. Source: rvo.nl switchgrass.nl