On Oktober 26th 2015 a workshop „Sustainable use of biomass and Biomass Logistic Centres“ was held in Zrenjanin, within the project „Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for woody bioenergy“ BioRes. The objective of the workshop was to gather in one place the relevant entities interested in production of woody biomass from Banat, to discuss the establishment and development of the chain of energy supply based on biomass through the establishment of Biomass logistic and trade centers (BLTC), based on examples of good practice and cooperation with European partners. Special attention during the workshop was given to the potentials for establishment of energy plantations, wich were presented by the representatives of the company Rebina Agrar. BIORES project supports the establishment of such centers in Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
Between Oktober 12th and 14th in Novi Sad, the National Biomass Association organized the third meeting of the Steering Committee of the BIORES Project - Regional Sustainable Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy.
The main topics of the meeting, in addition to administration of the project, were the status of work packages WP2, WP4, WP5 and WP6, a special emphasis is given to the following activities on forming a local consortium for the development of Biomass Logistic and Trade Centers (BLTCs), as well as the upcoming training of trainers and a study trip to Slovenia, Austria and Germany.
After the meeting of the project team, the hosts organized a visit to the National Park Fruska Gora.
The next meeting of the SC will be held in early December in Graz, organized by the Agricultural Chamber of Styria.
On September 10th 2015 in Bajina Basta there was a workshop on "Sustainable use of biomass and Biomass Logistic and Trade Centers (BLTCs)“, jointly organized by two projects aimed at establishing the preconditions for sustainable use of biomass in Serbia.
The project "Sustainable regional supply chain for woody bioenergy" BIORES and the project "Promotion of sustainable use of bioenergy in Zlatibor Area " BIOEN, are pooling their activities and efforts with the aim of a higher quality work and achieving better results.
The intent of the workshop was to gather in one place the relevant entities in the field of biomass production in the region (with a focus on the territory of Uzice, Cajetina and Bajina Basta), to discuss the establishment and development of the supply chain energy sources based on biomass through the establishment of Biomass logistic and trade centers (BLTC), based on examples of good practice and cooperation with European partners. BIORES project supports the establishment of such centers in Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, where Western Serbia has been recognized as the location for some of these centers.
Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources announced, at the end of August, a public call for the study spatial distribution of dedicated public warehouses of agricultural biomass in the territory of AP Vojvodina, and one of the goals of creating this study is what they say for "eKapija" in the Secretariat, the maximum possible utilization of this energy resource.
As explained in the provincial secretariat, the study should, among other things, contribute to establishing the precise manner in which will this warehouse be organized and operated, the locations, in which the warehouses should be, as well as the price and storage capacity.
In the tender documents for the study is stated, that Serbia, as a member of the Energy Community, is tasked to follow the energy policy of the European Union (EU), which, among other things, implies an obligation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, which, in addition to increasing energy efficiency, implements the use of renewable energy.
Biomass as an underutilized resource
Biomass, as stated in the tender documents, is the greatest potential of renewable energy in Serbia, especially in Vojvodina, where in the northern province is the greatest amount of crop residues available. The question is how to make use of this potential in the best way, in the country or abroad. One task is to open the biomass market, i.e. to connect those who own biomass with those who want to use it. Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources reviewed the formation of public warehouses for this purpose, one of which is in the final phase, in Apatin.
The construction of the warehouse enabled to perceive the possibilities and shortcomings of items of forming the warehouse and to be given a proposal for the continuation or cessation of activities and seek of new solutions, and the study should contribute to making acceptable and cost-effective solutions.
The aim of the study was to assess the need and the possibility of storage of biomass, primarily crop remains in the AP Vojvodina, with primary purpose of its utilization as a renewable energy source. Warehouses should enable the development of the biomass market and encourage wider use. The study should also identify the needs and opportunities of storage, problems and potential solutions, weighing the operational costs.
As a target group, whom the study is dedicated to, were the Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources, agricultural enterprises and large farms, family farms, potential investors in power plants with high capacity (heating plants, biogas plants, producers of biofuels, etc.) and the Republic of Serbia defined.
Biomass Warehouses are necessary.
According to Vojislav Milijić, president of the National Biomass Association SERBIO, organized storages of agricultural biomass, whether public or private, are essential for future power plants, heating plants, industrial consumers, but also for other processors of agricultural biomass.
- Storaging agricultural biomass involves separation of larger area, which must be used for that particular purpose. If we bear in mind that agricultural biomass is collected in a short period of time after the harvest, and that it must be stored throughout the year, it is clear that the mere storage area must be large - said Milijić for "eKapija".
He recalls that the Rulebook on fire protection in agriculture (Sl.gl.SFRJ 27/184)still applies, which defines the storage of straw - stack height, wider spacing between the stack and the heap of straw and facilities.
- If we take into consideration the necessary quantities of agricultural biomass, as well as mandatory measures for fire protection, we come to the surface of 5-6 ha for 10,000 tons of straw or more. It is hard to expect that private landowners would be willing to set aside fertile area for storage at no charge. On the other hand, closed storage require large investments. When the foregoing is taken into account, I think that it is a very important initiative to establish a public warehouse for agricultural biomass because it is one of the measures, that could ensure longer the increase of the use of agricultural biomass - says Milijić.
When asked whether such warehouses could be deployed to the rest of Serbia, he said that only Vojvodina has a real potential for using agricultural biomass. He explained, that the use of agricultural biomass to be profitable, it must be mobilized efficiently and cheaply - and that means efficient equipment on flat terrain and large areas. This, he says, can only be achieved in Vojvodina, because of the structure of the land tenure and the characteristics of the terrain. In addition, in Vojvodina there are developed agricultural enterprises, that can easily invest in machinery and implement logistics solutions related to the mobilization of agricultural biomass.
- In other parts of Serbia, we have wood biomass as something that can be used, and warehouses of biomass are certainly needed. The National Biomass Association SERBIO is currently conducting the BIORES project - Regional Sustainable Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy with several partners from the EU, funded by Horizon 2020 Fund of the European Commission, which aims to establish Biomass Logistic and Trade centers in several municipalities in Serbia - said Milijić.
Talking about the need for public warehouses of agricultural biomass in Serbia, Milijić estimates that they are necessary, but it all depends on where such warehouses are to be established, what kind of areas it will take and how much investment is required for them.
He adds that it is important to ensure the consumption of biomass for energy production - heating plants, power plants and large industrial consumers and indicates that without an increase in the consumption of biomass we can not expect further development.
- In this regard, I consider that, in defining the location of warehouses it is necessary to look at the potential consumers, that intend to replace fossil fuels with biomass. In addition, it is necessary to bear in mind the potential investors in biomass power plants. Of course,the transport of biomass to major customers abroad should also be taken in considerationd, but the longer transport of cheap and bulky goods can hardly pay off - says Milijić.
The significant potential of biomass in Serbia
Speaking about the Serbian potentials in terms of biomass as a resource, Milijić points out that, according to some data, the potential is about 3.3 Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent), of which some 1.7 Mtoe in agriculture and the rest in the timber. However, he adds, whit the the real exploitable potential, the cost of mobilization of biomass must be also taken into consideration, but the potential is significant.
- On the other hand the potential is to a great extent unused or inefficiently used. Serbia has only one heating plant that uses biomass (Sremska Mitrovica, sunflower husk) and only two biomass power plants have an energy agreement, but they are still far from realization. Again, a significant amount of firewood is used inefficiently or it is used for the production of pellet and plywood, which are mainly exported. In the end, instead of using the exported biomass, we import fossil fuels - concludes Milijić.
Sead Saitović
Izvor: ekapija.com
As part of the new edition of Balkan Green Energy News, the members of the National Biomass Association SERBIO, Vojislav Milijić, Tomislav Micović and Zorica Gluvakov prepared a very interesting article on the potential of biomass of agricultural origin in the Western Balkans.
The complete article you can read at the following address: Agricultural biomass in the Western Balkans
A site of the BioRes project is launched. The latest information about activities of the project, results, events as well as other usefull information related to woody bioenergy and Biomass Logistic Centres you can find here.
On June 17th and 18th 2015 the second meeting of the SC of the BioRes project - Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy was held.
The main topics, besides administration projects, were the status of the workpackages WP2 and WP3 and the establishment of the BioRes project site.
After the meeting of the project team, the hosts organized a visit to the Woody Energy Community „Eno Energy“ and to the power plant on woody biomass „Fortum Power“.
The next meeting of the SC will take place in Oktober in Novi Sad and will be organized by the National Biomass Association SERBIO.
On May 28th in Belgrade, the regular meeting of the National Biomass Association SERBIO took place. The Assembly unanimously passed the decision on adoption of the Report on Work and Financial Report, as well as the amendments to the Statute, and change the seat of SERBIO from Majdanpea to Novi Sad.
For the President of the Steering Committee of the National Association was Mr Vojislav Milijić re-elected, while for the position of the Deputy President of the SC was Mr Tomislav Mićović appointed, and for members of the Board were Mr Vladimir Janković, Ms Myriam Dobrota and Mr Aleksandar Fragner elected.
In accordance with the adopted amendments to the Statute, on June 4th the SC of SERBIO chose also the Secretary General of the Association. To the position of Secretary General SERBIO was Ms Zorica Gluvakov appointed, and the address of the Association is determined: Dože Đerđa 6, 21000, Novi Sad.
The BioRes Project „ Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy“, implemented by SERBIO, was presented on Mai 12th on the International Conference: Promotion of renewable enrgy sources: Biomass in Agriculture.
The presentation of the project can be downloaded here.
The second international fair and conferences on renewable energy sources and energetic efficiency RENEXPO will be held on April 22nd and 23rd 2015 in Belgrade. On this year fair, SERBIO promoted the BioRes project „Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy“, implented together with German partners – German Organization for internatial cooperation GIZ and financed by the European Union’s Horizon2020 Research and Innovation Program.
On this year RENEXPO fair, were presented the possibilities for investments in every renewable energy source and currently available projects from the region of Western Balkan.
The BioRes Project currently works on the election of priority locations for establishment of regional logistic centres in Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, and RENEXPO was a good opportunity for the promotion of potentials and attraction of investors interested in participating in the supply chain for woody biomass.
Projekat je podržan sredstvima Evropske unije iz programa za istraživanje i inovacije Horizon 2020, u okviru ugovora ograntu br. 645994
National Biomass Association SERBIO
Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 6/6, 21 000, Novi Sad, Serbia
Phone: 021/382 35 33
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BioRES Project - Sustainable Regional Supply Chains for Woody Bioenergy has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research innovation programmer under grand agreement No 645994
The establishment of the National Biomass Association SERBIO was supported by: