Outlining Europe's biomass policy, Hodson said bioenergy plays a crucial role in any scenario to meet the EU's target of increasing the share of renewable energies in its energy mix to 20% by 2020. The Commission is now getting ready to publish detailed criteria for national biomass action plans in June, he added.
An EU action plan for biomass had already been put forward in 2005 (see EurActiv LinksDossier), Hodson said. Member states are producing significant amounts of energy from biomass in the electricity, heating and transport sectors. The new Renewables Directive explicitly recognises this, calling for national action plans that tap into the variety of resources available, he continued.
The EU executive has been preparing a template for the national plans and was due to present a progress report in December. According to Hodson, this will be out soon.
He said the Commission drew on the voluntary biomass action plans prepared by member states for the 2005 initiative, concluding that a clearer template was necessary. He expects the criteria published in June to include national targets in different sectors and outline how member states are planning to reach their indicative trajectories.
The plans will have to detail whether EU countries plan to use imported or nationally produced biomass and what support mechanisms they will put in place to build the market, Hodson said, stressing the crucial role played by local and regional authorities here.
Energy agencies in eleven member states have also teamed up to contribute under the 'BAP Driver' project, working in tandem with the Commission and reaching similar conclusions on how the national biomass action plans should be designed.
Drafting voluntary action plans left national governments overwhelmed by the complexity of the bioenergy field and the changing EU political framework, Alexandra Lermen of the German Energy Agency argued. Member states now have a much clearer idea of what is expected of their bioenergy policies, she continued.
BAP Driver developed several criteria that national biomass strategies will need to fulfil, selecting a benchmark country for each criterion. For example, Finland was identified as best-placed to benefit from cross-country effects due to its position as a middleman in the value chain between Russia and Sweden. Meanwhile, Romania had the best-quality national action plan, with a detailed implementation programme and measures for each step of the supply chain.
The Commission is also working on sustainability criteria for biomass other than biofuels and bioliquids, which were already covered by the Renewables Directive. The criteria will be published at the end of 2010, while the EU executive will publish the results of a public consultation soon.
"The Commission report could say that no specific sustainability criteria for biomass is needed, but it is more likely that we will publish legislative criteria for those uses of biomass not already covered," Hodson revealed.
"We are still in the midst of defining the criteria, but the public consultation indicates that we have reasonable support to go forward with this," he said, cautioning that 20% of respondents would still prefer a voluntary scheme.
