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Energy wood planatations - the path from a farmer to an energy provider

10/12/2009 22:00:00 Pangea

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Farmers plant fields and forest workers tend to forests – what seemed obvious could be changing soon

Trees may be growing on fields with short rotation periods and high efficiency. The cultivation of fast growing coppice (energy wood) is becoming more important in times of climbing energy costs. Energy wood refers to wood which is meant to be used exclusively for producing energy.

Through state sponsored incentives for the production of renewable energies as well as a great technical conditions, a start into the bioenergy sector has become attractive not only for agricultural enterprises, but energy providers have been seeing the importance of bioenergy as well. This has brought RWE to expand its biomass activities, and the use of wood as fuel in cogeneration plants in particular. The company has signed a contract to lay the framework for the cultivation of up to 10,000 hectare of short rotation plantations in the next four years in Germany.

The DENEX® Trade Fair and Congress for Decentralized Energy Systems and Energy Efficient Building and Renovation is a platform in Hesse for agriculture and forestry, planners, constructors, service providers and large users such as towns, industry and housing projects to exchange information on the energy supply of the future and the possibilities for saving energy in construction and renovation and make contacts with industry insiders. It is taking place for the first time on July 2nd-3rd, 2009 in Hesse’s capital Wiesbaden.

The trade fair offers a unique overview of the possibilities of regenerative energy production. Companies such as Biokraft Naturbrennstoffe GmbH, the state affiliated company Hessen-Forst, SHT Heiztechnik aus Salzburg GmbH or the competence center HessenRohstoffe (HeRo) will present their new developments and products in the area of bioenergy.

Along with the exhibition, there will be different trade conferences taking place, including the “International Symposium on Short Rotation Coppice”. The symposium will shed light on the legal frameworks, opportunities and risks of the cultivation of short rotation coppice on agricultural land. In addition, it will report on the situation and the market in (eastern) Europe as well as the fields of application for energy wood. The speakers present an insight into the potential of the current state of research activities. The conference is taking place on July 3rd.

On July 2nd, a trade conference on the topic of “Regional Bioenergy Projects” will also take place. The conference will show how established local bioenergy initiatives are working and how communities can become actively involved in their bioenergy supply.

The DENEX® 2009 is taking place on Thursday and Friday July 2nd and 3rd, 2009 in the Rhein-Main-Hallen Wiesbaden.