Methodology to evaluate the feasibility of local biomass resources as a fuel for building boilers. Application to a Mediterranean area

Abstract

[EN] The massive implementation of distributed energy resources based on biofuels requires a complex methodology to assess the optimal energy valorization options and economic feasibility. This paper has focused on producing pellets for boilers. The work focuses on the residential and commercial sectors. To consume local biomass, it must be considered the availability of potential customers, biomass availability, properties, and dispersion to evaluate transport cost. The developed methodology was applied to three different counties of the Valencian Community (typical of Mediterranean areas). Biomass resources for different counties have been quantified and characterized regarding key issues as heating value and ash content. Considering every evaluated area (the typical total area in the range 600 to 1800 km2) as a biomass management unit, the impact of pellet production plant size and biomass transport costs for three different counties was evaluated. However, different balances between biomass resources availability and self-consumption potentials are obtained, the economic feasibility of pellet plants was acceptable in the three cases with payback periods from 5 to 6 years.