Biomass can satisfy the energy demand in Spain for 28 days a year

'Bioenergy Day in Spain' is celebrated again this year on December 3rd, a date that coincides with the start of the period from which biomass can meet the country's entire energy demand until the end of the year. Therefore, Spain remains at 28 days of energy self-sufficiency using only biomass, similar to last year, which means it falls to 25th place in the eurranking, now also behind Greece and Belgium, according to Bioenergy Eurstatistics.

The president of the Spanish Association for the Energy Valorization of Biomass ( Avebiom ), Javier Díaz, has expressed his disapproval of this figure, as it represents an advance of only 0.9 days, far from the four days achieved by other eur with similar or lesser potential. “Spain should have made more progress, but the lack of decisive support from the authorities has hindered its advancement.”

Díaz has demanded that the Spanish Government "take urgent measures if it wants to meet eurobjectives to reduce dependence on highly polluting fossil fuels, which greatly unbalance our national balance of payments as they are not endogenous resources like biomass."

As is well known, the EurUnion has set the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels, and has recently approved increasing the contribution of renewable energy to the energy mix to 32%.

The president of Avebiom, who acknowledged the expectations raised by the new government and the future Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, pointed out that the reality is that “Spain is losing ground in Eur, even though we have a great potential of underutilized resources which, if taken advantage of, would bring 'Bioenergy Day in Spain' forward to November 25, a date very close to the euraverage (November 19).”

In Spain, only 41% of the annual growth in timber stock is utilized, a very low percentage compared to the euraverage (73%). “There is an accumulation of timber in our forests that not only hinders the sector's potential growth but also poses a high risk of fire every summer.”

And besides wood, Díaz recalled, “Spain is rich in other resources, such as those from agriculture (olive and fruit tree prunings or vine shoots), which are practically not used for bioenergy purposes, since they are burned as stubble generating uncontrolled emissions.”

According to data from the Biomasud Plus project, Spain could obtain 625,600 tons of oil equivalent (TOE) from olive prunings, as well as 290,200 TOE from vine shoots. Furthermore, it could obtain 516,000 TOE annually from sustainably managed scrubland, according to information from the Enerbiocrub project and data from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAMA).

According to the president of Avebiom, these figures highlight the "fundamental role" of biomass in the transition to renewable energy. "Bioenergy is the most important renewable energy source in Eur, representing 63% of total consumption, ahead of gas and coal, and becoming the leading source of domestic energy."

In this regard, Díaz has insisted on demanding that the Government promote "the role of bioenergy as one of the main drivers that will allow us to achieve the objectives of the future Climate Change and Energy Transition Law."

And in the case of electricity generation, he finally said, “it would be important to hold new auctions, so that the manageable generation base with this technology can be maintained when coal-fired power plants, combined cycle plants and nuclear power plants are being closed down.”