More than 500 companies will showcase their latest innovations at Expobiomasa

The international trade fair Expobiomasa 2019 , which will make Valladolid the European capital eur the sector during the 24th, 25th and 26th of this month, will bring together 540 exhibiting companies in a total of 28,000 square meters of the city's fairgrounds, where the latest developments in the sector will be showcased, as reported by the president of the Spanish Association for the Energy Valorization of Biomass, Avebiom, Javier Díaz, at the official presentation of the fair held today at the Valladolid City Hall, presided over by the mayor of the city, Óscar Puente.

According to data provided by the president of Avebiom —the organizing entity of the fair—, the twelfth edition of Expobiomasa is expected to attract more than 15,000 professional visitors, of which nearly 1,500 will travel to Valladolid from a total of 40 countries, mainly eurand American; as well as representatives of more than 60 accredited media outlets.

The main objective of the competition is to promote biomass as an energy source, both in the domestic and industrial spheres, as well as to promote the commercial activity of the sector, which in the last edition (2017) resulted in an increase in business generated of around 17 million eur.

Among the events taking place during the three days of the fair, the following stand out: the 'International Conference on the Domestic Pellet Market', the 'II Spanish-Finnish Seminar' (Finland is the guest country in this edition), as well as the four technical conferences and the debate on environmental communication and bioenergy organized by the Association of Environmental Information Journalists (APIA) in collaboration with Avebiom and Gestamp.

The solid biomass sector (thermal, electrical, and traditional firewood) is worth eur1.53 billion. Of this, the modern thermal biomass sector, which operates with technologically advanced equipment, generated eur870 million in 2018, a 1.7% increase, creating 950 new jobs (11%), according to data from the Biomass Observatory's Annual Report, managed by Avebiom.

At the end of 2018, there were 298,400 biomass-fueled heating installations operating in Spain, 53,480 more than the previous year, representing an increase of 22%.

The high-efficiency biomass heating sector employs around 9,600 people, who are mainly engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, installation and maintenance of stoves and boilers.

Likewise, electricity generation with biomass has an installed capacity of 677 megawatts (MWe) and 200 more will be put into operation at the beginning of next year 2020.