In 2005, wood provided 6% of New Zealand’s total energy needs. There is potential for much greater use particularly in the form of woody biomass or wood waste. With fossil fuel prices on the rise, using woody biomass as an energy source is a viable alternative.
The Bioenergy Knowledge Centre, a resource administered by the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA) was launched in December by Jeanette Fitzsimons, Government Spokesperson for Energy Efficiency to promote the use of forest waste for energy, helping industry cash in on wood waste.
The Bioenergy Knowledge Centre consists of three major components:
- A website that allows you to search and access a diverse compilation of information on bioenergy opportunities (www.bkc.co.nz)
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A pool of experts accessible via a call centre to assist evaluation and analysis of bioenergy opportunities (0800 BIOENERGY)
- Information such as case studies, conference proceedings and reports that will be proactively disseminated to a broad range of stakeholders.
The website will also enable forest owners to determine the potential value of forest residues on their cutovers and compare this value to the equivalent volume of other fuels using online tools and calculators.
The main target audiences during the first year of operation are sawmillers, forest owners and wood processors.
The forestry sector is already a major user of wood waste for the generation of process heat in the wood processing industry, mainly used for wood drying kilns. Large processing sites also use cogeneration to produce electricity from burning wood waste.
Wood waste can also be used in industrial burners or in the form of pellets for heating our homes and schools. In the future, wood waste may be used for the production of transport fuels by using wood waste as a feedstock for ethanol production.
The Bioenergy Knowledge Centre will help raise awareness of these opportunities, provide vital information and create a market for the industry.
This initiative is part of the bioenergy stream of Government’s Forest Industry Development Agenda (FIDA) to support forest owners.
EECA encourages industry to access the Bioenergy Knowledge Centre.