The history of Svebio

Biomass is the dominating fuel in Swedish district heating. Enköping  CHP plant (55 MW heat, 24 MW power) uses both wood chips and Salix chips. Photo:Bioenergi/Novator.

The Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) was founded in 1980, after the oil crisis in 1979. At that time bioenergy accounted for 10 % of the energy supply in Sweden. Bioenergy was not yet commercial and a major part of the bioenergy was used internally in the wood industry.

From 1980 until today the development of bioenergy in Sweden has been impressive. Bioenergy has more than doubled from 48 TWh (173 PJ) in 1980 to 110 TWh (396 PJ) in 2004.

The main reason for this development is the introduction of strong steering taxes on fossil fuels and a widespread use of district heating systems. At the beginning of this development the political ambition was to reduce oil dependency with nuclear power, coal and domestic fuels. Since the 1990s environmental issues, e.g. the reduction of carbon dioxide, have been the main political driver.

Providing network

As a non-profit organisation Svebio has played a central role in this development. In the beginning Svebio provided a necessary network enabling commercial use of wood chips in district heating systems. Almost all actors in the bioenergy field including municipalities and politicians were involved in this network. The lack of knowledge on bioenergy was common and conferences arranged by Svebio has contributed in turning bioenergy into a commercially accepted fuel. A major event was BioEnergy 84 World Conference in Gothenburg with Svebio as the main organiser.

Political influence

Today Svebio consists of around 300 members, most of them enterprises active in producing/providing biofuels or using biofuels on a larger scale. Among Svebio´s members there are also manufacturers/providers of burning equipment, machinery for collection and processing of biofuels, consultants, scientists, politicians as well as some private members. The broad spectrum of members has contributed to Svebio´s present position as a trustworthy part among decision-makers. Svebio is playing an active part in all major political decisions concerning bioenergy and bioenergy related matters in Sweden.

As Sweden is now a member in the European Union, Svebio also acts on the European political arena. In years 1998-2002 Svebio´s Managing Director Mr Kent Nyström was the president of the European Biomass Association, AEBIOM. In 2001 Svebio and EUFORES organised the Third Interparlamentary Meeting on Renewable Energy Sources on the island of Gotland, Sweden. In 2004 Svebio organised the 1st World Bioenergy 2004 Conference & Exhibition on Biomass for Energy in Jönköping, together with Elmia AB. This was followed up by the 2nd World Bioenergy 2006 Conference & Exhibition on Biomass for Energy in 2006, which was an even greater success. More than 1 100 participants made it the largest bioenergy event ever held in the world.

Development of bioenergy in Sweden.

2005

112

2006	116 (prel.)