A technical group from the European Rehabilite and Promobiomasse projects visited a pilot scheme in a residential area in Sarriguren (district of Pamplona) directed at gradually replacing traditional gas networks with systems powered by renewable energy.
Nasuvinsa, the public owned company of the Government of Navarra, has started to take the first effective steps towards gradually replacing the traditional gas boilers in its public housing stock with systems fuelled by forest biomass. This locally-sourced supply is emerging as a renewable energy alternative for the generation of heat at a residential level. This morning, the public housing company of the Government of Navarra showcased its first biomass boiler installed at one of its rental housing properties in Sarriguren, to a group of technical officers from the European Rehabilite and Promobiomasse projects.
The engineering work consisted in installing a new 300 kW wood chip biomass boiler to generate power to supply 51 homes in two blocks of social rental housing located in avenue Avenida Reino de Navarra in Sarriguren. This generator will operate as the main boiler, while the previous two gas boilers will solely be maintained as an occasional support at peak demand times.
Nasuvinsa will use this pilot scheme to try out the operation of biomass boilers in its own residential property. The aim is to subsequently extend the use of installations of this type, particularly to the more than half a thousand rental homes that are starting to be built as part of the Navarra Social Housing scheme, as well as to promote the use of biomass boilers in the private residential sector.
In order to conduct this initial test, Nasuvinsa purchased a batch of wood chips for burning in the boiler. However, in future, the supply of biomass feedstock shall be sourced from the area of forests managed by the Government of Navarra – approximately 10% of the more than 650,000 hectares of woodland in the Autonomous Community of Navarra, through an agreement that the public housing company is finalising with the public company Gestión Ambiental de Navarra (GAN).
The visit made this morning comes within the framework of the second meeting of the technical committee of Prombiomasse, the transnational cooperation project headed by Nasuvinsa. This meeting organised for today and tomorrow, will be attended by more than fifty experts from France, Spain and Portugal. After this initial visit made to Pamplona, the technical officers will then go on the Ultzama Valley tomorrow, specifically to the town of Bera, to learn more about the district heating networks that use forest biomass for heating and for the hot water supply to public buildings.
Navarra: investing in alternative energy sources
This scheme to use forest biomass as an alternative energy source in this residential area, comes within the context of the commitment of Nasuvinsa and its agency for territorial development and sustainability, Lursarea, to shift its housing policy towards more social and sustainable town and country planning. The use of forest biomass as an energy source offers significant advantages, being a sustainably-produced renewable energy that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon footprint of cities and external dependence. Furthermore, it offers other closer benefits such as the valorization of the extensive forest cover in Navarra, as a local resource, a reduced fire risk and the creation of jobs in rural areas suffering from depopulation.
Another initiative undertaken by Nasuvinsa, immediately prior to the one above, is the forthcoming award of a contract to construct and operate the Txantrea Heat Plant, fuelled by biomass. This infrastructure will have the capacity to cover the district heating of more than 4,000 homes in this district of Pamplona, as well as part of the nearby towns of Burlada and Ansoáin.
This morning, the visit to the pilot scheme in a public housing development in Sarriguren, guided by the technical officer from Nasuvinsa, Maitane Zazu, was preceded by a number of meetings of the Promobiomasse technical groups. These focussed on seeking a solution to problems faced with regard to exploitation, logistics and demand for biomass, such as problems accessing forest areas and storage, inefficient exploitation methods or the lack of knowledge of potential public and private customers about this type of energy.
Plants at Larraintzar and Bera
Following the visit to Sarriguren, today the experts learned more about another good practice relating to a biomass logistics plant located in the town of Navalmoral de la Mata in the province of Caceres. This was all explained in detail by the manager of the company Extremadura Verde during the workshop. Visits to the district heating networks in Ultzama and Bera are scheduled for tomorrow.
In the case of Ultzama, two boilers, one fuelled by wood chips and the other by pellets, located in Larraintzar, serve the district public school, the Community Centre, the Health Centre, the Town Hall, the local Social Service Headquarters and the water for the municipal swimming pool during the season. The system is supplied with local beechwood, approximately 1,200 tons per year. In Bera, four diesel boilers were replaced in 2014 by two biomass boilers which provide hot water and heating to five municipal buildings totalling 8.000 m2: thee schools, one nursery school and a sports centre. This change has led to savings of between 10,000 to 30,000 euros a year, depending on the price of diesel.
Nasuvinsa, through Lursarea, the Navarra agency for territorial development and sustainability, is heading the European Promobiomasse SUDEO project for the development of an integrated model for sustainable forest biomass management in a short-circuit, applicable to mountain areas of southwest Europe. In the Autonomous Community of Navarra, the project is primarily focussed on promoting the use of forest biomass from the woodlands of Navarra for use in heating systems in residential and community buildings, initially publicly owned, with plans to extend the formula to the private sector. The total budget for the project amounts to EUR 1.4 million, of which the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is providing 1 million.
Together with Nasuvinsa, the partners in the project are: the Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya; the Agencia Extremeña de la Energía; the agency ENERAREA, in northern Portugal; the Communauté de Communes du Plateau de Lannemezan del, of the French department Hautes-Pyrénées; and the Association des Communes Forestières des Pyrénées Atlantiques (COFOR64) of the Pyrénées Atlantiques, as well as 19 associated entities.
