Demand and supply of wood biomass for energy use in the province of Trento (Italy): a survey

In the last decades, the energy policy of European Union (EU) has fostered the use of biomass from forests and outside forests for energy purposes. Firstly, the Green Paper on renewable energies of the European Commission, then, the Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, the objectives of reducing the greenhouses gases (GHG) emissions and increasing the share of final consumption covered by renewable sources have been established. In this context, the present study investigated the flow of wood residues for energy use in the Trentino province - involving 82 wood processing enterprises (74% of total enterprises) and 22 biomass energy plants (85% of total biomass energy plants) - and quality of raw material used. The results show that in the Trentino province 100% of wood residues produced by wood processing enterprises are sold in the market (90.6%) or re-used within the enterprise (9.4%). Concerning the biomass sold on the market, 46% of wood biomass is marketed within the Trentino province, while 54% is marketed outside the province (Bolzano province, Veneto and Lombardy region). The biomass energy plants mainly use woodchips from forest and sawmills (86%), while sawdust and bark cover the remaining 10% and 4%, respectively. The biomass energy plants sample involved in the survey buys mainly raw material from traders (42.5%) followed by wood processing enterprises (34.3%) and forest enterprises (23.2%). Regarding the quality of wood biomass, only 54.5% of biomass energy plants sample checks the water content, while 41% buy certified woodchips. The results of this study highlight that forest-wood chain in the Trentino province is efficient in re-using wood residues produced in accordance with the principles of the circular bioeconomy, while there are still margins for improvement about the controls of the quality of raw materials used and to enhance of wood products of high added value (bio-textiles, bio-plastics)