Bioenergy in the European Energy Technology Plan

Today’s post highlights the Industrial Bioenergy Initiative included in the European Union’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) under the slogan “Boosting the contribution of Bioenergy to the EU climate and energy ambitions”.

The term Bioenergy is used to designate the production of heat, electricity and fuels from biological resources, including dedicated crops, agricultural and forestry residues, and municipal and industrial wastes.

“The SET-Plan Bioenergy Initiative focuses on innovative value chains which are not yet commercially available, and which could bring significant contribution to the bioenergy markets by large scale deployment (large single units or larger number of smaller units), whilst complying with the sustainability requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC).” A specific complementary activity is also proposed to tackle the critical issue of biomass supply.

The Industrial Bioenergy Initiative will promote public-private partnerships to leverage financing and risk management of projects for the implementation of demonstration plants and of first commercial units of new value chains (flagship). The demonstration projects are expected to produce their first commercial contribution by 2015-2020.

Projects will be selected based on different criteria, including their innovative nature: at least one “technology brick” or the integration of “technology bricks” within the considered value chain should not have been deployed at demonstration or commercial scale before. The seven value chains listed below will be considered:

a) Thermochemical pathways

1: Synthetic liquid fuels and/or hydrocarbons and blending components through gasification.

2: Bio-methane and other bio-synthetic gaseous fuels through gasification.

3: High efficiency heat & power generation through thermochemical conversion

4: Intermediate bioenergy carriers through techniques such as pyrolysis and torrefaction

b) Biochemical pathways

5: Ethanol and higher alcohols from ligno-cellulosic feedstock through chemical and biological processes

6: Hydrocarbons through biological and/or chemical synthesis from biomass containing carbohydrates

7: Bioenergy carriers produced by micro-organisms (algae, bacteria) from CO2 and sunlight

c) Complementary measures and activities

8: Biomass feedstock for bioenergy

9: Set of activities on longer term R&D&D on emerging and innovative bioenergy value chains

Source: European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative, Implementation Plan 2010 – 2012, European Union, 2012.

European Energy Strategy

In 2010, the European Commission published the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), with the explicit objective of make low-carbon technologies affordable and competitive.

This instrument focuses on strengthening industrial participation in energy research and demonstration as a way to boost innovation and accelerate deployment of low-carbon energy technologies. The collective European approach helps to better tackle barriers and share risks.

The SET-Plan includes initiatives in the following research areas:

• Bioenergy – development of biofuels that comply with the EU sustainability criteria (Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009 on promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources).
• CO2 Capture, Transport and Storage – technologies to be couple with power generation and other energy intensive industries that use fossil fuels, particularly coal and gas.
• European Electricity Grid – to further integrate national networks into a pan-European network and enable the transmission and distribution of electricity from dispersed and concentrated renewable sources (up to 35 % by 2020, and make electricity production completely decarbonised by 2050).
• Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) – development of hydrogen-supply and fuel-cell technologies for mass market introduction in 2015-2020.
• Sustainable Nuclear Initiative – intended to demonstrate the long-term sustainability of the 4^th generation nuclear reactors, based on closed fuel cycles.
• Energy Efficiency – The Smart Cities Initiative – This initiative will support regions and large cities that take pioneering measures in energy efficiency and energy production to progress towards a radical reduction of greenhouse gas emissions even further than established in the EU energy and climate change policy.
• Solar Europe Initiative – focuses on photovoltaics and concentrating solar power technologies to make them more competitive and to facilitate their integration into the electricity grid.
• European Wind Initiative – aims to make wind energy more competitive, to harness the potential of offshore resources and deep waters, and to facilitate grid integration.

Also noteworthy are the creation of the SET-plan Steering Group, with representatives from the EU Member States and where Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey participate as observers, and of the European Energy Research Alliance, founded by leading European research institutes.

Source: 

The European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (Set –Plan) Towards a low carbon future, European Comission, 2010

R&D, competitiveness and sustainability

Innovation is of paramount importance to increase energy-efficiency and to enable the cost-effective use of low carbon energy sources, ensuring their large-scale market penetration. In this context investing in research and development (R&D), demonstration and early deployment of technologies is vital for sustainable development, conditioning the ability of the World to limit the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the increase of the global average temperature.

It is interesting to note that several emerging economies are allocating significant shares of their GDP to research and development (R&D) of new technologies. In 2009, China allocated 48% of its GDP, India 35%, and Korea 26%. These investments have the potential to enable these developing countries to leapfrog towards a more competitive, energy-efficient, and “low carbon intensity” Economy.

In the European Union, the overall current investment in R&D represented 19% of GDP in 2009.

Full implementation of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan requires an additional investment in R&D and demonstration of € 50 billion over the next 10 years.

The “Stern Review” recognizes the private sector as the major driver of innovation and of the diffusion of technologies around the world. Nevertheless it stresses the role that governments can play to promote international collaboration to overcome barriers in this area, namely through co-ordination of priorities, and shared risks and rewards.

According to the “Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050”, for the EU SET plan to completely fulfill its role on the identified pathway, on average, over the coming 40 years, an additional investment of around 1.5% of EU GDP per year on top of the overall current investment is needed.

Sources:

- "A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050", European Commission, 2011;

- Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change.

Where does the European Union stand on GHG emission reductions?

Years ago, the Member States of the European Union committed themselves to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 20%, increasing the share of renewable energy to 20%, and increase the energy efficiency in 20% by 2020. According to the “Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050” (EU Commission, 2011), the EU is currently on track to meet the first two targets, although additional efforts are needed to achieve the energy efficiency target.

The European Union has been a champion pushing for more ambitious targets for the period after the Kyoto Protocol expires. In the UNFCCC conference in Durban, the EU voluntarily proposed to move from a 20% to a 30% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, provided that the other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and developing countries contribute adequately according to their responsibilities and respective capabilities.

Previously, during contacts with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the European Commission had already reaffirmed its intention to reduce EU's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 80-95% by 2050 compared to 1990.

However, the EU represents little more than 10% of global emissions... it will not be able to tackle climate change on its own. Additionally, while setting an example, the EU is at the same time safeguarding its position. Committing alone would bring hardships to the Member States in the future, due to disloyal market competition and even from the displacement of large emitting companies to other regions of the Globe with less stringent climate protection frameworks.

I eagerly await for the next “episodes” of the negotiation of the emission reductions between Countries for the after-Kioto Protocol (the period beyond 2012), under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Protection (UNFCCC). 

 Sources:
- “A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050”, European Commission, 2011;
- UNFCCC, http://unfccc.int/.