Woody biomass as an energy source : challenges in Europe

The annual use of wood energy is in Denmark 6 TWh, in Finland 68 TWh, in Norway 12 TWh and in Sweden 80 TWh. Over 40% of the wood raw material input of the Nordic forest industries end up indirectly as fuel. In Finland and Sweden, therefore, the share of wood in the consumption of primary energy is larger than in other industrialized countries. Since all industrial wood residues are already used for the production of energy, the future increase in the use of wood energy will be based on the unutilized biomass reserves of the forests, i.e. small-sized trees from young stands and logging residues from final harvest. The paper examines the biomass reserves of the Nordic forests, alternative recovery systems for smallsized trees and logging residues, and the properties of forest chips. Finally, the present use and price development of forest chips in Finland are reviewed.

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