Heating has traditionally been the main market for bioenergy in Sweden.
District heating
The district heating system is very well developed in Sweden. More than half of all Swedish multi-family houses and other buildings are heated with district heating. In 2004, 61% percent of all district heating in Sweden was produced using biofuels. The use of wood fuels in district heating has fivefolded since 1990. According to a prognosis made by the Swedish District Heating Association, district heating production will continue to increase, whereby the use of biofuels will also increase. This is under the assumption that a competing natural gas pipeline through the well-forested southern part of Sweden will not be built. If instead that would be the case, much less biofuel will be used in the future.
Local or private heating
Remaining buildings that are not using district heating are heated locally or privately. In local heating there is a great scope for further conversion from oil and electricity to biofuels. In private house heating, biofuels contribute to about 10 TWh of energy in homes and premises, of which wood log fuelling stands for the largest part. However, converting from oil and electricity to wood pellets is profitable for customers and is a fast growing market. Today some 37,000 houses in Sweden are heated with wood pellets. The cost of heating is lowered significantly and the investment is repaid in a handful of years. Market actors expect a continued rapid increase in the use of biofuels in private homes of up to a use of 20-25 TWh per year, including wood log heating.
