Options for Dendro Power in Asia: Report on the Expert Consultation

Conclusions and Recommendations

Options for Dendro-Power - Biomass Energy Resource Base - Projects, Technology and Management - Energy and Climate Policies - Financing

3.1 Options for Dendro-Power

Conclusions

1. Dendro-power provides a significant potential to contribute to national economic growth and employment generation in rural areas, as well as local and global environmental management.

2. With modern technologies, wood and other biomass can provide a competitive and sustainable fuel for processing and conversion into electricity in many situations. This position is expected to develop considerably when more expertise is gained with using biomass as a modern energy carrier.

3. The development of dendro-power fits well in general trends towards deregulation and privatization in the power sector, and/or decentralized power supply in remote areas.

4. Mainstream as well as niche markets for dendro-power do exist in RWEDP member-countries in Asia. The governments of these countries can formulate a strategy for the development of modern dendro-power.

Recommendations

1. RWEDP member countries should explore the sustainable potential of wood and other biomass fuels to help meet their growing demand for electricity, in addition to the already existing use of these fuels for process heat.

2. RWEDP member countries can initiate the identification and preparation of viable dendro-power projects in niche markets. Amongst potential niche markets are power plants based on combinations of woodfuel with agro-residues in order to overcome seasonality in the supply of the latter.

3. Also, co-firing of woodfuels with coal or lignite using modern technologies should be explored and experience with large-scale supply of biomass should be gained in such applications.

4. The potential of dendro-power for mainstream applications and major markets in suitable areas in Asia should be studied.

5. Authorities should proceed with the implementation of clear regulations and mechanisms for wheeling and banking of power so as to accommodate independent power production.

6. FAO and other international organizations should assist in providing information and preparing dendro-power policies, strategies and projects in member-countries.

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3.2 Biomass Energy Resource Base

Conclusions

1. RWEDP member countries possess a large potential resource base for bio-energy fuels. The resource base consists of (1) agro- and forest residues that cause a disposal problem, (2) agro- and forest residues that have alternative uses but can be used under certain conditions and (3) eventually wood and biomass specifically grown for energy purposes.

2. However, site-specific data and evaluation of the resource base and its potential are not yet available. Efforts can be made to obtain detailed and site-specific information on present and future alternative uses of bio-resources.

3. There is limited experience with large-scale woodfuel plantations, both technically and organizationally.

Recommendations

1. RWEDP member countries should engage in establishing databases for evaluating the potential of bio-energy resources for modern applications in the power sector on an area-specific basis. Competing uses, supply patterns, markets and prices should be included in these databases.

2. The potential of diversified biomass fuel supplies (dedicated wood plantations, available wood residues, other biomass) should be evaluated for feeding multi-fuel boilers and gasifiers.

3. The potential of dedicated woodfuel plantations and residues from other sources should be inventoried in various areas in the context of complementing and competing interests. Special consideration areas are buffer zones around protected areas and areas where erosion prevention, water retention, biodiversity conservation etc. can be obtained.

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3.3 Projects, Technology and Management

Conclusions

1. Several mature and proven small-scale and large-scale technologies for dendro-power plants are available and more technologies are emerging.

2. Economies of scale provide substantial benefits for dendro-power plants. The feasibility of such options must be traded-off against constraints in the resource base, logistics of support, and other potential limitations. However, larger scale biomass energy systems should be considered.

3. Vertical integration of activities in dendro-power (from biomass resource development to power generation) provides the most feasible approach in the initial stages of local market development since it shields the resource base off from competition.

4. Expertise is available and can be further complemented to prepare and implement dendro-power strategies and projects.

Recommendations

1. RWEDP member countries should seek international cooperation for the preparation and implementation of dendro-power projects. Partners can be technology suppliers as well as specialized technical and financial consultants, and others.

2. At the same time, RWEDP member countries should make efforts to further develop local technologies and expertise required for dendro-power plants, including manufacturing capabilities for dendro-power equipment.

3. South-South cooperation in R&D efforts for dendro-power development should be promoted. RWEDP member countries should also seek cooperation with bilateral and multilateral organizations for supporting R&D on dendro-power in Asia.

4. State-of-the-art proven technologies should be selected for current applications in Asia. New, emerging techniques (such as gasification; BIG/CC) are to be considered seriously. Asia can be a major market for such advanced systems, because of available capital and infrastructure and often cheap biomass supply in the form of residues.

5. The feasibility of a demonstration project for dedicated dendro power generation should be studied . For the Asian context especially multi-fuel systems are of interest.

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3.4 Energy and Climate Policies

Conclusions

1. The sustainable use of wood and other biomass fuels provides a strong support to the implementation of international policies with regard to global climate change.

2. Many industrialized countries have made substantial progress in applying modern technologies for biomass fuel utilization. Also developing countries are gaining experience in these options.

3. Financial support mechanisms are being developed by international financial institutions and/or industrialized countries that enable developing countries and economies in transition to apply the modern bioenergy options.

4. More and more large actors, such as utilities, oil companies, etc., are coming in which could be major partners for RWEDP member countries in developing and implementing dendro-power.

5. The role of governments is to provide the policies and framework for implementation by the private sector. It is increasingly being accepted that internalization of externalities in the energy sector is economically feasible and environmentally desirable. This can tip the balance in favor of dendro-power in many situations and considerably accelerate the implementation of energy from biomass.

Recommendations

1. Developing countries and economies in transition should convert the new options for dendro-power into projects, making full use of the modalities for funding and implementation.

2. In order to fully exploit the new options, capabilities should be developed with expert inputs from the energy, environment, forestry and financial sectors.

3. Initiatives should be taken for the provision of information, training and demonstration for policy makers, professionals (engineers, environmentalists, foresters, economists, and others) and the general public on the positive impacts of biomass energy for economic development, employment generation and environmental management.

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3.5 Financing

Conclusions

1. The renewable energy sector is professionalizing rapidly, resulting in higher success rates for projects.

2. As yet, important barriers for obtaining financing for dendropower are:

   	Uncertainties in fuel supply caused by competitive use of both the lands that it is on, the long tree harvesting times as well as alternative uses of the biomass once harvested.
   	The low scrap value of highly specific and technical equipment.

3. More financing options besides the World Bank and GEF are becoming available such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and green banks.

Recommendations

1. RWEDP member countries should take advantage of the new mechanisms for financial assistance, at the same time serving their domestic priorities for power sector development and local environmental management.

2. Governments should assist private sector organizations to actively access financial options.

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