An Assessment of the Importance of Biomass Imports for the Austrian Bioenergy Sector

According to energy statistics, the net imports of biomass accounted for approximately 5 to 10 % of the total biomass for energy consumption in Austria during 2006 to 2009. However, these imports only include biomass which is traded directly for the purpose of energy recovery, and indirect trade as well as feedstock imports for biofuel production are not taken into account. The objective of this paper is to provide a more detailed insight into the importance of biomass imports for the Austrian bioenergy sector, as well as recent trends. The consumption of biomass for energy generation in Austria has increased significantly in recent years (from about 130 PJ in 2004 to 210 PJ in 2009), primarily due to a rapid increase in biomass combined heat and power generation (amounting to 2.1 TWhel in 2004 and 4.3 TWhel in 2009) and the use of biogenic transport fuels (about 3.6 PJ in 2005 and 23 PJ i