Case Study (48 KB PDF)

Summary

The extensive utilisation of biomass plays a leading role for the realisation of the political goal in Bavaria to expand the share of the renewable energy sources in medium terms up to 13% of the primary energy consumption. A professed target of the Bavarian Government is to increase the share of biomass, contributing to the energy generation from approx. 3% at present up to 5 % in the near future. The major success factors for the concentrated introduction and promotion of biomass in Bavaria are: regional government support through financial grants for biomass installations, beneficial legislative aspects like premium-set tariffs for biomass or standard specifications for wood fuel, strong R&D efforts and indigenous industry capabilities, information and education. This has resulted in the establishment of a strong indigenous capability that benefits from a vibrant domestic market.

Results

Thanks to the large-scale promotion of technology Bavaria has in recent years considerably improved the infrastructure for utilising biomass as an energy source for all product lines. Nowadays approx. 2.3 million tons of biomass are used for energy purposes in Bavaria which is equivalent to 3.3 % of the primary energy requirements. Today's infrastructure is made up as follows:

• 265 biomass heating and combined heat and power plants in operation (111 of which received financial support)
• 1.76 Mio. small combustion plants for wood and other types of biomass
• 1,650 agrarian biogas plants