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Co-firing of imported wood pellets – An option to efficiently save CO2 emissions in Europe?

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  • Ehrig, Rita
  • Behrendt, Frank

Abstract

In this paper the energy and carbon footprints of pellet imports from Australia, West Canada, and Russia for co-firing in Europe are investigated. Their ecologic and economic performances are proven by applying the Belgian and UK co-firing subsidy systems, which require dedicated sustainability evaluations. Based on the modelling of different subsidy schemes and price scenarios, the present paper identifies favourable conditions for the use of biomass co-firing in Germany and Austria, which currently do not have dedicated co-firing incentives. The present paper shows that under present conditions, co-firing has a narrow financial gap to coal with −3 to 4€ Cent/kWhel and has low CO2 mitigation costs compared to other renewables. Moreover, it is shown that co-firing is one of the most cost-attractive options to reach the EU-2020 targets. For policy makers, the support of co-firing is found to be very efficient in terms of cost-benefit ratio. It is proven that the co-firing subsidy schemes might direct supply chain decisions towards options with low energy and carbon impacts.

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  • Ehrig, Rita & Behrendt, Frank, 2013. "Co-firing of imported wood pellets – An option to efficiently save CO2 emissions in Europe?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 283-300.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:59:y:2013:i:c:p:283-300
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.060
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    1. Xian, Hui & Colson, Gregory & Mei, Bin & Wetzstein, Michael E., 2015. "Co-firing coal with wood pellets for U.S. electricity generation: A real options analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 106-116.
    2. Beagle, E. & Belmont, E., 2019. "Comparative life cycle assessment of biomass utilization for electricity generation in the European Union and the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 267-275.
    3. Dafnomilis, Ioannis & Hoefnagels, Ric & Pratama, Yudistira W. & Schott, Dingena L. & Lodewijks, Gabriel & Junginger, Martin, 2017. "Review of solid and liquid biofuel demand and supply in Northwest Europe towards 2030 – A comparison of national and regional projections," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 31-45.
    4. Nunes, L.J.R. & Matias, J.C.O. & Catalão, J.P.S., 2014. "A review on torrefied biomass pellets as a sustainable alternative to coal in power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 153-160.
    5. Rentizelas, Athanasios A. & Li, Jun, 2016. "Techno-economic and carbon emissions analysis of biomass torrefaction downstream in international bioenergy supply chains for co-firing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 129-142.
    6. Moiseyev, Alexander & Solberg, Birger & Kallio, A. Maarit I., 2014. "The impact of subsidies and carbon pricing on the wood biomass use for energy in the EU," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 161-167.
    7. Otavio Cavalett & Sigurd Norem Slettmo & Francesco Cherubini, 2018. "Energy and Environmental Aspects of Using Eucalyptus from Brazil for Energy and Transportation Services in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Nabavi, Vahid & Azizi, Majid & Tarmian, Asghar & Ray, Charles David, 2020. "Feasibility study on the production and consumption of wood pellets in Iran to meet return-on-investment and greenhouse gas emissions targets," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1-20.
    9. Mei, Bin & Wetzstein, Michael, 2017. "Burning wood pellets for US electricity generation? A regime switching analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 434-441.
    10. Cleary, Julian & Caspersen, John P., 2015. "Comparing the life cycle impacts of using harvest residue as feedstock for small- and large-scale bioenergy systems (part I)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 917-926.
    11. Mauro, Caterina & Rentizelas, Athanasios A. & Chinese, Damiana, 2018. "International vs. domestic bioenergy supply chains for co-firing plants: The role of pre-treatment technologies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 712-730.
    12. Bonassa, Gabriela & Schneider, Lara Talita & Canever, Victor Bruno & Cremonez, Paulo André & Frigo, Elisandro Pires & Dieter, Jonathan & Teleken, Joel Gustavo, 2018. "Scenarios and prospects of solid biofuel use in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2365-2378.
    13. Stephen J. Ramos & Umit Yilmaz, 2023. "Energy transition and city–port symbiosis in biomass import–export regions," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(2), pages 406-428, June.
    14. Lenka Štofová & Petra Szaryszová & Bohuslava Mihalčová, 2021. "Testing the Bioeconomic Options of Transitioning to Solid Recovered Fuel: A Case Study of a Thermal Power Plant in Slovakia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Judl, Jáchym & Koskela, Sirkka & Korpela, Timo & Karvosenoja, Niko & Häyrinen, Anna & Rantsi, Jari, 2014. "Net environmental impacts of low-share wood pellet co-combustion in an existing coal-fired CHP (combined heat and power) production in Helsinki, Finland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 844-851.
    16. Julia Hansson & Roman Hackl, 2016. "The potential influence of sustainability criteria on the European Union pellets market—the example of Sweden," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(4), pages 413-429, July.
    17. Oscar Ruíz-Carmona & Jorge M. Islas-Samperio & Lourdes Larrondo-Posadas & Fabio Manzini & Genice K. Grande-Acosta & Christian Álvarez-Escobedo, 2021. "Solid Biofuels Scenarios from Rural Agricultural and Forestry Residues for Mexican Industrial SMEs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.

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    Keywords

    Pellets trade; Co-firing subsidies; CO2 footprint;
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