Biomass from the Region
Evaluation of the Regions and Biomass Routes for SunFuel® Production - the Joint Venture Project SUNREG
The use of biomass energy is gaining increasingly in dynamics and is posing new challenges for farmers and regions.
The use of biomass energy is gaining increasingly in dynamics and is posing new challenges for farmers and regions.
The expansion of sources of renewable energy will be necessary worldwide to implement the Kyoto climate protection targets. With the implementation of the EU-biofuel directive, which has been in force since January 2005, the proportion of biofuels must rise to 5.75 % by 2010 and 10% by 2030. Mixing biofuels with conventional fuels plays a vital role here.
This means that additional sales markets are already opening up today for biodiesel, bio-ethanol, biogas and in future for synthetic biofuels too (Biomass to Liquid/BTL) and hydrogen. The Fed-eral Bioenergy Association estimates that the market share for bioenergy will increase to ap-proximately 10% of the primary energy produced in Germany by 2020 and at least 15 % by 2030. Of this, 16% could come from the electricity market, 10 % from the heat market and 12 % from biofuels.
Taking these new perspectives into account, new income and employment alternatives arise for agriculture which, at the same time, will set new challenges for the rural regions.
SUNREG – Raw Materials for SunFuel®-Production
To produce biomass for fuel production, it is necessary to fulfil economic, ecological and crop cultivation requirements. In December 2004 a wide-ranging joint venture project was started by the states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and Hessen and Volkswagen AG, to investigate and assess various aspects of regional production of the raw material. Information and results from all the part projects within the combined project “Biomass for SunFuel®” will be integrated in a model which will be used for the technical socio-economic and ecological assessment of biomass production systems in selected regions of Lower Saxony and Brandenburg.
The Objectives:
- Development of technically and logistically feasible, economically attractive and socially compatible biomass routes.
- Location-specific assessment of the availability of biomass for SunFuel® production.
- Assessment of the effects of innovations and the altered framework of conditions on regional biomass infrastructures.
The tasks:
- Investigations of the energy crop yields and energy crop rotation taking particular account of special quality requirements including storage, logistics and preparation;
- Calculation of the theoretical biomass production potential taking the model regions in Lower Saxony and Brandenburg as an example;
- Modelling and simulation of existing and future biomass routes;
- Bottom-up analysis of the economic potential for agricultural operations and regions;
- Assessment of the availability of biomass for SunFuel® production;
- Simulation and assessment of technical innovations and changes to the framework of conditions affecting economics and agricultural policy;
- Indicating obstacles and potential for optimising biomass routes;
- Initial strategies for developing biomass markets;
- Further development of the assessment model and transfer to other regions.
The Regions:
Three typical production regions in Lower Saxony (preferred arable locations - Wolfenbüt-tel/Hildesheim region, arable locations on light soils - Uelzen/Soltau region, locations in regions which require improvement – Emsland region) and one region in Brandenburg (locations on light soils – Havelland region) were selected for the bottom-up analysis.
The Partners:
Landwirtschaftskammer Hannover (Hanover Chamber of Agriculture)
Johannsenstr. 10
30159 Hannover
Landwirtschaftskammer Weser –Ems (Weser-Ems Chamber of Agriculture)
Mars-la-Tour Str. 1 –13
26121 Oldenburg
Project coordination:
Dr. Rottmann-Meyer
Kompetenzzentrum Nachwachsende Rohstoffe NaRo.Net
(Competence Centre for Renewable Raw Materials)
Kompaniestr. 1
49757 Werlte
Tel.:05951-989310
e-mail: rottmann@komnaro.de
Dr. Grundmann
Institut für Agrartechnik Bornim e.V ( ATB) [Bornim Institute of Agrarian Technology]
Max-Eyth-Str. 100
14469 Potsdam
Tel. 0031-5699-229
e-mail: pgrundmann@atb-potsdam.de
Project duration: December 2004 – Jan. 2008
The project was funded by the state of Lower Saxony, the EU-Initiative Leader+ and Volkswagen AG