Spain already has 50 pellet production plants

According to the latest newsletter from AVEBIOM (Spanish Association for the Energy Valorization of Biomass), Spain now has 50 active pellet production plants, as shown in the Solid Biofuels Map of the Iberian Peninsula and South America, which the association publishes annually. Nine new factories have been added to the list in the last year, while the current installed capacity is around 900,000 tons per year.

Among the new factories, AVEBIOM highlights the start-up of the Naturpellet plant in Segovia, with 30,000 tons per year; the Ebinor plant in La Rioja, which begins operations with 10,000 tons per year and plans to increase to 20,000 tons per year soon; and the Gesbi factory in Córdoba, which will produce up to 25,000 tons per year.

Most new producers have opted for ENplus certification from the outset, and today 21 companies are manufacturing quality pellets, 7 more than in April 2014. The number of certified distributors has almost doubled, from 6 to 11, several of whom also produce pellets and other biofuels.

The map produced by AVEBIOM also includes data from Portugal and Latin America. While the number of ENplus certified producers in Portugal has doubled (from 4 in 2014 to 8 certified factories currently), in Latin America, the commissioning of two large factories in northern Argentina stands out, one of them with a capacity of 75,000 tons per year. In Chile, domestic pellet consumption is steadily increasing, so an increase in capacity is expected in the coming years.