Avebiom calls for greater government support to increase the share of biomass in the national energy mix

The president of the Spanish Association for the Energy Valorization of Biomass (Avebiom), Javier Díaz, has asked the Spanish Government for “stronger support for biomass as an energy source, with a greater share in the mix , because it is essential to meet the environmental objectives set by the EU in 2050.”

Díaz called for “measures to reduce dependence on highly polluting fossil fuels, which disrupt the national balance of payments because they are not endogenous resources like biomass.” The EU has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels, and has approved increasing the share of renewables in the mix to 32%.

The president of Avebiom, Javier Díaz, made these statements during the opening ceremony of the Bioenergy Congress 2018, organized by Avebiom and the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha under the title 'Installations and heat networks with biomass for public use'.

Díaz explained that the objective of this Congress is to facilitate the official processing of biomass heating networks, which is the main “obstacle faced by the promoters of this type of installation, due to a logical lack of initial information on the part of the municipal officials and technicians, since in many cases there are no precedents in the municipalities.”.

In Spain, 375 biomass-fired district heating networks are in operation, 340 more than in 2010, with a cumulative thermal capacity of 312 MW, according to data from the National Biomass Boiler Observatory. Of these, 292 (78%) are biomass-fired district heating networks serving public buildings.

In addition, there are another 78 facilities that are in the execution phase, which will raise the accumulated power to 453 MW in terms.