This month will see the end of the Promobiomasse project, launched in 2018 within the framework of the Interreg Sudoe programme with the aim of boosting the local energy market for forest biomass in southern Europe through cross-border cooperation. The final video of the project shows the main actions developed in each territory and the results of the project.
Today, institutional decision-makers from the participating regions, experts in biomass, and partner and associate entities have come together in Navarra to take part in the final project seminar. This transnational initiative, which is now at its final stage, is focussed on driving environmentally and economically sustainable forest management, directed at maintaining and improving forest assets while generating income for the local population and preventing the risk of fire.
In his opening address, José María Ayerdi, Vice President of the Government of Navarra and Regional Minister for Spatial Planning, Housing, Landscape and Strategic Projects of the Government of Navarra, , made a positive appraisal of the projects promoted in the course of the three years in which Promobiomasse has been active, highlighting its major contribution to the adaptation to climate change and the need to address a profound energy transition at a global level. He emphasised that “the proposals made will make it possible to progress in the design and development of holistic sustainable management models and in the progressive introduction of forest biomass as an alternative green fuel, in both the public housing and private sectors alike. My congratulations and thanks to all the Promobiomasse team, headed by the company Nasuvinsa”, he said at the end of his speech.
During the seminar, held at the Centre for the storage, processing and supply of biomass, located in Aoiz, experts Pablo Rodero, the international project manager at the Asociación Española de Valorización Energética de la Biomasa (AVEBIOM), and Elena Baeza, the head of the Forestry Management Section of the Government of Navarra, underscored the potential of biomass as a driver of a change in the energy model. Rodero underscored the great potential of biomass, given that it produces low-cost energy that uses advanced technology. It therefore offers environmental benefits, particularly with regard to fire prevention, and also social ones, given that it creates jobs in areas in need. For her part, Baeza indicated that Navarra has a high potential for wood production and forest-based biomass and, therefore, this fuel can be considered to be a zero kilometre energy source.
The event was also attended by Rubén Goñi, the Director of Strategic Projects at the Navarra Government, Ángel Martín Unzué, the mayor of Aoiz, as well as institutional decision-makers from partner entities and regions, such as Alberto Bayona, the managing director of NASUVINSA (the Navarra Government public corporation for housing and urban development), Bernard Plano, the forestry technician representative of the Communauté de Communes Plateau de Lannemezan, Jean Michel Noisette, the chairman of the Association des Communes Forestières des Pyrénées Atlantiques, Adriano Raddi, the head of the group addressing forest uses, mechanisation and biomass at the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya, and Germán Botejara, an expert from the Agencia Extremeña de la Energía.
A model proposed by experts
Forest biomass is one of the energies of the future, one that creates employment in rural areas, lowers the risk of fire, reduces external energy dependence and, in contrast to fossil fuels, it does not disturb the balance of atmospheric gases, given that the trees absorb the CO2 emitted during the combustion of the biomass.
In 2018, the Promobiomasse project was launched in order to promote the forest biomass energy market in southwestern Europe (SUDOE) through cross-border cooperation between entities in France, Spain and Portugal. Specifically, the project participants include the Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología Forestal de Cataluña (CTFC), the public corporation of the Navarra Government Navarra de Suelo y Vivienda, SA (NASUVINSA), the Agencia Extremeña de la Energía (AGENEX), the Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente do Interior (ENERAREA), from the north of Portugal, the Communauté de Communes du Plateau de Lannemezan (CCPL), from the French department of Hautes-Pyrénées, and the Association des Communes Forestières des Pyrénées Atlantiques (COFOR64), from the Atlantic Pyrenees. As well as the above-mentioned project partners, 19 associates were also involved. The total budget for the project amounted to EUR 1.4 million, of which the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has provided EUR 1 million.
With the participation of sector players, the project’s group of experts created a biomass market supply and demand management model, applying the “short-circuit” concept which is similar to the one used for local agri-food products. The aim was to provide a solution to the problems faced by the biomass energy market, such as the fact that forest ownership is divided into small holdings, inefficient exploitation methods, and the lack of knowledge and wariness of the general public. The model comprises 67 measures, whose objectives include the generation of up-to-date and available information on existing forest resources, the promotion of partnerships, support for the forest sector and the certification of wood chips, and the proposal of model facilities from the public and private sectors.
Pilot schemes
Based on this model, pilot schemes were implemented in each region taking part in the project, as discussed in this closing seminar. Schemes that have served to try out and optimise the model proposed. Thus, the Pyrénées Atlantiques territory has started up a biomass boiler “Users club” with players from the local authorities and companies responsible for the management of the biomass boilers. This club is intended to promote the exchange of experiences and increase the expertise of the players responsible for the management of the equipment
The department of the Hautes Pyrenées has developed a digital tool for the characterisation of forest masses to facilitate the mobilisation of privately owned forest resources, ensure the traceability of forest products and facilitate forest management. NASUVINSA has created the above-mentioned Centre for the storage, processing and supply of forest biomass, located in Aoiz. This is to supply the biomass boilers of the social housing buildings of NASUVINSA and those of any other future installations that may be promoted from the public sector.
Along these same lines, ENERAREA has conducted a study for the creation of a network of residual biomass collection and processing centres in the North of Portugal.
AGENEX, in Extremadura, has taken action in the districts of LA Siberia, Hurdes and Sierra de Gata in order to eliminate the administrative, legal and structural barriers of forest ownership and courses have been organised for technical training in the holistic management of the biomass value chain, directed at local players (municipal officers, biomass companies, boiler operators and forest owners).
For its part, the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya has promoted models and techniques for the sustainable extraction of forest biomass using innovative machinery that improves working conditions in the forest, and it has also implemented a project for the promotion of joint forest management for the prevention of fires in the Serra de Puig-Segalar (Girona).
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On this coming Thursday, 16th September, the final seminar of the Promobiomasse project will take place at the Centre for the storage, processing and supply of biomass, located in Aoiz (Navarra). The event will be attended by experts in biomass, representatives of the project’s partner and associate entities and institutional decision-makers from the participating regions.
During the seminar, biomass experts will discuss the subject of biomass as a factor in energy transition and sustainability. Specifically, Pablo Rodero, the international project manager at the Spanish Association for the Development of Biomass Energy (AVEBIOM), will speak on the potential of biomass as a driver of a change in the energy model in Europe, while Elena Baeza, the head of Forestry Management for the Government of Navarra, will discuss the challenges of biomass in this Autonomous Community.
The meeting will also serve to provide information on the regional projects for the promotion of the local biomass market, implemented within the Promobiomasse framework.
More than a third of Portugal is covered by forest on private land, while the property structure is extremely fragmented with the predominance of smallholdings, representing an obstacle for good forestry management in the country. The need to study solutions has led ENERAREA, the Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente do Interior de Portugal (Regional Energy and Environment Agency within Portugal) to take part in the European projects GEFRECON and PROMOBIOMASSE. Within the PROMOBIOMASSE framework, ENERAREA has set in motion a Study through the Centro de Biomasa para la Energía (Biomass Centre for Energy) directed at analysing the viability of creating a Network of Logistics Parks for the Processing of Forest Biomass Residues.
The purpose of the Parks for the Harvesting and Processing of Forest Biomass Residues is to provide the infrastructure and equipment required for biomass processing in order to promote and provide incentives for the reduction of the combustible load existing in forested areas, making it possible to reduce the concentration of residues, increase the profitability of the pre-processing machinery and enhance the value of biomass by processing it into a more homogeneous material that is easy to handle and transport, thereby reducing transport costs. This recently concluded study, which has been submitted to its partner municipalities, is seeking funding lines in order to implement the project in the region.
In strategic terms, the project has the following goals:
Localizar las existencias de biomasa forestal en varias comarcas extremeñas es ahora más sencillo gracias al geoportal creado por el ingeniero forestal Iván Muñoz Martín en colaboración con la Agencia Extremeña de la Energía (AGENEX) en el marco del proyecto de cooperación europea Promobiomasse.
La aplicación muestra de forma visual la biomasa existente en las comarcas extremeñas de Sierra de Gata, Hurdes y Siberia-Cíjara, tomando como fuente de datos la Cartografía temática forestal de Extremadura, obtenida a partir del Inventario Forestal Nacional IFN4 y el vuelo LIDAR PNOA 2018, así como los datos del proyecto “Extensión del cuarto Inventario Forestal Nacional mediante técnicas Lidar para la gestión forestal sostenible de los montes de Extremadura”, promovido por el Servicio de Ordenación y Gestión Forestal y cofinanciado por FEADER en un 75% a través de la medida 8.5.1 “Gestión sostenible de los montes” del Programa de Desarrollo Rural de Extremadura 2014-2020 .
En una primera capa informativa, el geoportal permite consultar las existencias maderables de Extremadura por Mancomunidades, tanto el volumen con corteza total en metros cúbicos, como la biomasa aérea total en toneladas. Para las tres comarcas citadas se ofrece, además, la localización de todas las masas forestales de pinos, castaños y eucaliptos, la superficie que ocupan y los límites de los montes declarados de Utilidad Pública.
El geoportal, creado con la herramienta arcGIS online, está disponible en la web del proyecto www.promobiomasse.eu y permite a los agentes locales obtener información sobre el potencial de biomasa de sus comarcas. En la misma línea, Muñoz ha elaborado otro trabajo de valoración de los excedentes de biomasa forestal en Extremadura en base a criterios selvícolas y de accesibilidad como trabajo final del Máster de Sistemas de Información Geográfica y Teledetección que ha cursado en la Universidad de Extremadura.
El proyecto Promobiomasse
Promobiomasse es un proyecto de cooperación transnacional que pretende impulsar el mercado energético de la biomasa forestal en el territorio SUDOE (sudoeste de Europa), con los beneficios que ello supone: reducción del riesgo de incendios, generación de empleo en el medio rural, avances en la transición energética y oportunidades de desarrollo sostenible.
Los socios del proyecto son la Agencia Extremeña de la Energía (AGENEX), el Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología Forestal de Cataluña (CTFC), la sociedad pública Navarra de Suelo y Vivienda, SA de Gobierno de Navarra (NASUVINSA), la Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente do Interior (ENERAREA), del norte de Portugal, la Communauté de Communes du Plateau de Lannemezan (CCPL), del departamento francés de Hautes-Pyrénées, y la Association des Communes Forestières des Pyrénées Atlantiques (COFOR64), de Pirineos Atlánticos. Además de las entidades socias, participan también otras 19 asociadas. El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 1,4 millones de euros, de los cuales el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Feder) aporta un millón.
En el marco del proyecto, la Agencia Extremeña de la Energía ha centrado sus actuaciones en las comarcas de Sierra de Gata, Hurdes y Siberia-Cíjara , donde ha ofrecido cursos de capacitación de agentes locales y ha estudiado las barreras administrativas, legales y de estructura de la propiedad forestal.
During the months of April, May and June, a number of regional workshops were held within the framework of the Promobiomasse project, in which local experts gave their input to the model for the management of the biomass market in a short circuit, prepared in the project. The meetings also served to assess the pilot schemes set in motion by the Promobiomasse partners: the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), the public entity of the Navarra Government – Navarra de Suelo y Vivienda, SA (NASUVINSA), the Agencia Extremeña de la Energía (AGENEX), the Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente do Interior (ENERAREA) of Región Norte Portugal, the Communauté de Communes du Plateau de Lannemezan (CCPL), of the French department Hautes-Pyrénées, and the Association des Communes Forestières des Pyrénées Atlantiques (COFOR64) of the Pyrénées Atlantiques.
Promobiomasse is a transnational cooperation project that aims to promote the forest biomass energy market in the SUDOE territory (southwestern Europe), with the resulting advantages: reduced fire risk, creation of employment in rural areas, progress in the energy transition and sustainable development opportunities. As well as the above-mentioned project partners, 19 associated enterprises are also involved. The total budget for the project amounts to EUR 1.4 million, of which the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is providing 1 million.
Matters under discussion
All the workshops were held on-line, except for the one in Navarra. The first meeting was arranged for the 27th April by COFOR 64, at which details were given on the biomass boiler club scheme in the area of the Atlantic Pyrenees. The six experts taking part pointed out that it would be a good idea to replicate this type of club in other areas and underscored the usefulness of collecting operating data and boiler costs for the purpose of analysing its economic viability.
On 13th May, AGENEX held a meeting with 72 experts, who were given details of the pilot schemes conducted in Extremadura – the local agent training courses and the study to remove administrative, legal and structural barriers to forest property in La Siberia, Hurdes and Sierra de Gata -, as well as the Localcir project and the POCTEP Methodology for the design of Green itineraries, developed within the Promobiomasse framework. The subsequent round table addressed the possible extension of the biomass management model to other districts of Extremadura.
On the 18th May, it was the turn of ENERAREA, at a workshop attended by 25 experts, including stakeholders and municipal representatives, who were able to get first-hand information on the biomass management model prepared within the project framework, as well as the study for the creation of a network of residual biomass collection and processing centres within the ENERAREA area of action. Their input highlighted the need to add a national approach to the biomass management model in order to adapt it to a centralised administrative structure such as the one in Portugal.
The workshop organised by Nasuvinsa was held on 3rd June in Aoiz, at the facilities of the future biomass storage and processing plant, a pilot project for the Navarra-based partner. The ten experts attending the meeting addressed the possibility of setting in motion the public-private entity to manage the plant, the legal difficulties due to the fact that it is an innovative management formula in Navarra and its short and medium term prospects.
For its part, the CCPL decided to divide the workshop into two meetings. On 5th May, it took advantage of the general meeting of Fibois Occitanie to present its pilot scheme to some twenty experts and representatives of the local and regional administrations, consisting in the digital tool Eforet for the characterisation of the forest areas. On the 8th June it held a further meeting with a smaller group of experts to assess the Promobiomasse biomass management model.
The final workshop, organised by CTFC, was held on the 11th June and was attended by 11 experts, who were given details of the two pilot schemes implemented in Catalunya: one on innovative log extraction technologies and the other on the promotion of joint forest management for the prevention of fires. Their input focussed on the need to improve the efficiency of forest harvesting, reducing the environmental impact of machines on the ground and and on the advisability of always counting on trained and skilled technical staff.
Now that the regional workshops have ended, Promobiomasse will organise a technical workshop using streaming technology, to be held on 1st July. This is directed at actors in the different stages of the biomass cycle in the project’s territories. The workshop will serve to explain the project implemented and to give short talks to address those aspects dealt with in the pilot schemes.
