The stability of pellet prices triggers the use of biomass

“The good performance of biomass prices as fuel for heating has become an unbeatable argument against the use of fossil fuels, because it has been shown that it generates real and immediate savings in the family economy,” he says. the president of the Spanish Association for Energy Valorization of Biomass (Avebiom), Javier Díaz, in the working committee that analyzes the data from the Domestic Biomass Price Index published periodically by the Association.

The latest data from the Avebiom Price Index, referring to the last quarter of 2017, reflect the stability of the price of pellets, olive pits and wood chips in their different sales formats to the final consumer: in bags or in bulk (served at home by tanker trucks).

In the case of pellets, which is the most demanded fuel, the evolution of the price of a 15-kilogram bag has decreased by 3.37% on average in the last three years.

In December 2017, the average energy cost with pellets in their different formats was 1.30 cents/kWh lower than that of diesel C, despite the downward cycle in oil prices; around two cents/kWh lower than natural gas and 40% cheaper than the energy cost of propane/butane gas (cylinder).

The difference in prices of olive pits and wood chips is even greater, which last December accounted for up to a third of the cost of fossil fuels.

Savings compared to diesel
With these data, according to the Avebiom report, a family that invests 2,000 euros in heating diesel would save almost 450 euros if they used pellets (with quality seals A1 and A2 of the ISO 17225-2 standard) and taxes included; and it would only allocate 780 euros to this chapter if it consumed wood chips (A1 or A2, according to ISO 17225-4).

In addition to the price argument, the president of Avebiom added, “the progressive expansion of biomass as a source of thermal energy has been supported in recent years by the improvement in the technology of the equipment, which can now be controlled from mobile, and for its clean energy nature, which contributes significantly to the fight against climate change.” Aspects, all of them, "that have undoubtedly influenced the significant increase in biomass installations in Spain, especially in the field of domestic heating." 

The biomass sector generates an annual business of almost 4,000 million euros and employs nearly 25,000 people. Forestry exploitation and the production of biofuels explain approximately 50% of employment, which is generated mainly in rural areas, where a progressive decline in productive activity is generally recorded.