BIOPLAT presents its first sectoral report on biomass in Spain

The Spanish Biomass Technology Platform –BIOPLAT– held its General Assembly on December 10 at the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness –MINECO–. The Assembly was structured in two blocks, the first of which was dedicated to updating the information and opportunities that exist at the national and European level to support the bioenergy sector. To this end, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness intervened, reporting on the results of the 2015 Challenges-Collaboration Call for R&D projects, in which six bioenergy projects corresponding to the Energy Challenge were approved. In addition, other opportunities for R&D&i offered by this Ministry were presented, such as the Horizon SME call, intended for all those small and medium-sized companies that submitted a proposal to Phase 1 of the SME Instrument of Horizon 2020 in 2014 or 2015 and , which, having obtained a score higher than 12 out of 15, had not been financed due to lack of availability of funds.

Along these lines, CDTI presented opportunities for innovative projects in the bioenergy sector contained in various technological, national and European financing instruments. CDTI also identified the opportunities that exist for the bioenergy sector in the 2016-2017 work programs of the Social Challenges of Energy and Bioeconomy, as well as the private industrial initiative JTI of Bioindustries, all of them framed in Horizon 2020. .

Next, CIEMAT explained the intense work that is being carried out both in the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative (EIBI–European Industry Bioenergy Initiative) and in the European Alliance for Research in Bioenergy (EERA-Bioenergy Joint Programme) of the SET- Plan, where the Heads of the Biofuels and Biomass Unit of CIEMAT - respectively - represent the Spanish sector. In addition, it was reported about the launch of a new call from the ERANET BESTF-3 (Bioenergy Sustaining the Future 3), for the financing of innovative bioenergy projects that, for the first time, will not only provide financing for companies through CDTI, but also to non-profit scientific-technological entities, given that the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness is going to co-finance this ERANET.

The second block of contents of the Assembly was inaugurated with an intervention by the Technical Secretariat of BIOPLAT, in which the actions carried out by the Platform that generate added value to the Spanish bioenergy sector included in it were identified, which amounts to 357 entities, half of them companies.

Finally, the first BIOPLAT sector report was presented by the consulting firm in charge of its preparation, Afi (International Financial Analysts), which offers an overview, quantifying the key socioeconomic and environmental parameters of the Spanish bioenergy sector. , both biomass for electrical and thermal generation and for the generation of biofuels for transportation. This report endorses bioenergy as a central element of the new bioeconomy, urging the design of a public policy to support biomass.

To download the report, click here