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Ecofys puts sustainability requirements for biomass into practice

Tuesday, 11 May 2010 16:40

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Currently, these EU criteria only apply to biomass sources for transport fuels. The European Commission is still considering whether to apply similar criteria to solid biomass used for heat or power production. However, Vattenfall has voluntarily committed itself to identifying measures that guarantee the sustainability of its solid biomass sources. By doing so, Vattenfall is taking a leading role in the defining and sourcing of sustainable solid biomass on a large scale.

In recent years Ecofys has played a prominent consultant role in defining sustainability criteria regulations in the EU, the UK and the Netherlands among others. For Vattenfall, Ecofys has created an inventory of sustainable routes that have the potential to lead to the purchase of sustainable biomass. Vattenfall aims at increasing its biomass based share in combined heat and power production.

For Vattenfall, Ecofys specifically evaluated biomass streams from forestry residues and short rotation energy coppice (in the vicinity of Berlin) as well as global sources.

Ecofys expects that other companies using biomass for heat and power production will soon follow the Vattenfall example. "All stakeholders will ask for this," says project manager Patrick Lamers. "The explicit use of certified sustainable biomass will also increase the public acceptance of biomass use for energy purposes in general."

Source: Ecofys