Sustainability and trade at the Nordic Pellets Conference on Wednesday
Two days to go for Nordic Pellets Conference that will take place as an online event on 27 January.
The EU-28 consumed around 27.5 million tonnes of pellets in 2019, of which almost 18 million were produced within the EU-28. While the 2020/2021 heating season is well underway, there is a compliance issue on the horizon – the EU’s mandatory sustainability criteria for economic operators receiving support for the production of electricity or heating and cooling from biomass and biogas in the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) that enters into force on July 1, 2021.
Sustainability and trade
Sustainable biomass such as woodchips and pellets, is the largest contributor to Denmark’s renewable energy mix, and is largely responsible for replacing the use of coal in the electricity and heating sector. Denmark’s pellet consumption in 2019 was 3.1 million tonnes, the same total as Italy. This is something that panellists AnnaLisa Paniz, Director of General Affairs and International Relationships of AIEL or perhaps Johan Granath, Vice-President, Ekman Group will comment on during the session.
Like Italy, Denmark has limited pellet and solid biomass production. Thus, unlike its Nordic-Baltic neigbours, Denmark is a major importer of pellets and biomass, sourcing it from a variety of geographies both from across the Atlantic as well as the Baltic Sea region. The latter biomass market is something that Andrius Smaliukas, CEO of the Lithuanian state-owned digital timber and biomass trading platform Baltpool will discuss. In operation since 2013, Baltpool has around 450 members and operates in all the three Baltic States, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Verifying compliance
A new Danish biomass sustainability law, in line with the EU’s mandatory sustainability criteria, is to replace a voluntary industry agreement that has regulated sustainable biomass use in Denmark since 2014. Hear from Lisbet Ølgaard, Head of Division Centre for Renewables, Danish Energy Agency what this new, regulation means for those active in the Danish biomass and pellets market.
Lisbet Ølgaard, Head of Division Centre for Renewables, Danish Energy Agency, AnnaLisa Paniz, Director of General Affairs and International Relationships, AIEL and Thomas Siegmund, Expert Solid Biomass, REDcert GmbH.
How does this new Danish regulation and RED II compliance tie in with existing certification schemes such as the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) scheme? Carsten Huljus, CEO, SBP will provide insights into the evolution of SBP, while Thomas Siegmund, Expert Solid Biomass, REDcert GmbH will outline the recently launched SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES Verification Scheme (SURE). Jointly owned by Bioenergy Europe and REDcert, SURE is a sustainability certification system that has defined verifiable criteria for the production of electricity and heat from solid biomass and biogas to enable RED II compliance for all economic operators.
One thing is clear though, time is of the essence – EU’s new mandatory RED II sustainability rules come into force on July 1, 2021. Registering for the virtual Nordic Pellets conference that will be held on January 27, from 13.00 CET is a good start.
Welcome to Nordic Pellets Conference 2021!