The biomass sector will be at risk if regulation does not recognize its costs

In recent months there has been an extraordinary increase in costs associated with the operation of the biomass sector, a fact that coincides with a growing demand for the consumption of agroforestry biomass. APPA Biomass demands that the new regulation of the sector reflect this increase in costs, incorporating an update of the remuneration necessary for the survival of the national biomass sector.

The future of the biomass sector will be at serious risk if the regulations that regulate it do not take into account the difficult situation that this renewable sector is going through, given the exorbitant escalation of fuel prices and the high biomass demand.

Currently, the orders of remuneration parameters for this sector are being published . These orders drastically cut compensation for renewable biomass energy generation plants. Specifically, the orders contemplate that the costs of biomass and other operating costs have only increased by 1% in 2022. Nothing could be further from the truth: in the last year the costs of biomass (raw material with which these renewable generation plants) have risen nearly 40%. Furthermore, the price of diesel (which accounts for more than 30% of the costs associated with the sector and which affects the costs of transport, transporters and machinery) has also experienced an unprecedented increase.

To the exponential rise of the costs associated with the collection of biomass (due to the growing inflation, which affects all scales: diesel, salaries, etc.), a growing demand for agroforestry biomass : wood, for domestic and industrial heating, and also other biomass, to replace fossil fuels in the industry. A demand increased from outside our borders, since from the Nordic countries and eur Opeos Center, the pressure in the Spanish biomass and wood market is increasing.

The cost assumption used by the Government in the aforementioned regulatory draft is, therefore, very far from reality , and this means that the remuneration it considers necessary to achieve the reasonable profitability that it had guaranteed for this technology is also far from reality.

The situation is so complicated for the sector that some producers are being forced to stop production, temporarily close their facilities and, in some cases, apply employment regulation files among their workers .

We thus find ourselves in a situation of incoherence in which, on the one hand, renewable energy plants with biomass (which "theoretically" have a reasonable profitability guaranteed by the State) have to stop and, at the same time, to cover this lack of production, natural gas combined cycles are being used.

Renewable energy from biomass is a sector with great potential in our country , given its abundance of biomass resources to take advantage of. Likewise, it is the only source of renewable generation that is also manageable, without depending on weather factors such as wind or sun. In this way, biomass contributes to guaranteeing the energy supply and providing stability to the electrical system, while promoting energy independence, so necessary at times like the current one.
 
This sector, furthermore, is strongly linked to the rural environment, in such a way that it contributes to the structuring of the territory and the establishment of the population in rural environments . Of all renewable technologies, biomass has the greatest job creation effect: 25 direct, indirect and induced jobs per installed megawatt.