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Development and promotion of a transparent European Pellets Market
Creation of a European real-time Pellets Atlas
Pellet market country report
SLOVENIA
Copyright ©
Geonardo Ltd
Záhony utca 7
HU-1031 Budapest, Hungary
September 2009
Prepared by
Geonardo
Peter Gyuris
Adrienn Csekö
Contact
[email protected]
Tel. +36-1-250 6703
This report is available at the pellets@las website at www.pelletsatlas.info
The pellets@las project is supported by the European Commission under the EIE
programme (EIE/06/020/SI2.448557). The sole responsibility for the content of this
report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European
Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be
made of the information contained therein.
Country report Slovenia
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
Introduction ......................................................................4
2.
Pellet production ..............................................................6
3.
Pellet trade and consumption .........................................8
4.
Mixed biomass pellets ...................................................10
5.
Legal framework and legislation...................................11
6.
Projections on future developments ............................12
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Geonardo
Country report Slovenia
1. Introduction
Slovenia is one of the most densely forested countries in Europe. More than a half of
its territory (1,169,196 ha) are covered with forests (forestation amounts to 57.7 %).
Dominant forest types are beech, fir-beech and beech-oak, which have a relatively
high production capacity.
3.500.000
Gross volume (m3)
3.000.000
2.500.000
Total cut
2.000.000
Cut for fuelwood
1.500.000
1.000.000
500.000
0
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
Figure 1: Quantity of cut for fuelwood and total cut 1955 - 2000 (Source: State of
the art of wood biomass preparation and use in Slovenia, TCP project final report)
The growing stock of Slovenian forests amounts to 300,000 cubic metres or 257
cubic metres per hectare (Slovenia Forest Service). The share of growing stock of
coniferous trees is 47.4 %, of deciduous trees 52.6 %. In Slovenian forests there is
an annual increment of 7,569,040 cubic metres of wood.
Figure 2: Total primary energy by sources (Energy Restructuring Agency, ApE)
The use of this potential (the total annual quantity of entry raw materials of the
inquired producers of wood biomass is 113,035 m3) resulted in a high share of wood
usage among renewable energy sources (Figure 2). Approximately 4 % of the
Slovenian primary energy consumption derives from biomass.
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Geonardo
Country report Slovenia
The Slovenian Forestry Service survey (2004) revealed two producers with 35,000
tons of pellets produced. In a study by the Agency for Efficient Energy Use (AURE)
three producers were mentioned with a total capacity of 75,000 tons and a 2008
survey (Gratenau and Hesselbacher) reported also three producers with a total
capacity of 89,000 tons. According to Geonardo’s research four producers with total
capacity of 185,000 tons are operating in Slovenia.
Biomass has been used mostly for heating and small-scale electricity production but
we have found large-scale users substituting charcoal in power plants. However,
pellets face significant competition in Slovenia as firewood and wood chips have
been commonly used energy sources for a long time.
Respective bodies and stakeholders providing surveys and studies on pellet
production, trading and consumption have already been mentioned:
•
Energy Restructuring Agency (ApE), independent consulting company;
•
Agency for Efficient Energy Use (AURE), (state) client of Institute Jozef Stefan,
Energy Efficiency Center;
•
Slovenian Forestry Institute - Department of Forest Technique and Economics
(state).
Information on the Slovenian renewables sector is readily available since a complete
system was set up containing documentation from various sources. Energy GIS by
ApE (http://www.ape.si/) is a spatial information system on renewable energy
sources, potentials, capacities etc., including information on installed wood pellet
boiler locations and operation parameters.
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Geonardo
Country report Slovenia
2. Pellet production
The known major wood pellet producers in Slovenia are marked with red dots on the
map below.
Figure 3: Major Slovenian wood pellet producers (map source: Google Earth)
In 2004 Slovenia registered its first big producer of pellets according to the report of
the Slovenian Forestry Service (TCP project final report). In the study of AURE
(2005) the producer mentioned in the above report was still listed and two additional
plants were registered. These new companies have been operating since 2005 as
the reports show. By 2005 the production capacity has doubled to 75,000 tons in
total.
In 2008 a research study was presented by Mr. Alen Bukvic (Gratenau and Hessler),
in a UNECE and FAO workshop called “Wood energy - the fuel of choice for Serbia”.
In this study three major wood pellet producers were mentioned in Postojna,
Hrusevje and in Cerknica. Two of them were already listed in the 2005 study of
AURE.
Geonardo’s investigation in the spring of 2009 revealed that these three companies
are still operating and that one additional producer entered the market in the
meantime. This company works in the north of the country but it is unclear which
amounts and qualities are produced. The table below shows these producers and
some parameters of the production facilities.
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Country report Slovenia
Table 1: Major pellet producers with production amount standards and raw material indicated
Producer
Location
Annual
production
Pellet type
Raw material
Standard
GGP
Pivka,
60,000 t
6 mm
pine
»GOLD« ITA
85% beech
»GOLD« ITA
»ENERLES
PROFILES
8 mm
Razdrto
50,000 t
6 mm
15% pine
MADJ d.o.o.
Cerknica/Ma
rtinjak
28-30,000 t
Mizarstvo
Kovac d.o.o.
Mozirje
15,000 t
»GOLD« ITA
6 mm
90% pine
10% hard
Three of these major pellet producers rely on exports to the Italian market as they
produce according to Italian standards / certifications and are close to the border.
This situation will be described in detail in the next chapter.
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Country report Slovenia
3. Pellet trade and consumption
In Slovenia forestry products (e.g. wood chips) have a long tradition in trading. A wellorganized online trading platform has been working for years already
(http://res.borzen.si/DesktopDefault.aspx). This biomass-trading portal is powered by
the Agency of Efficiency Energy Use and is available in English and in Slovenian.
The portal was initiated by a governmental project on “Removing barriers to the
increased use of biomass in Slovenia” which was supported by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF). Within the framework of this project the Slovenian
government also plans to increase the country’s biomass share in primary energy
use up to 6.5 %.
The trade platform focuses on biomass goods and besides conventional forestry or
wood processing industry products wood pellets are traded. The portal disseminates
information on renewables (especially biomass) and even contributes to defining
pellet fuels as can be seen below on a slide from one of the web portal’s brochures.
Figure 4: Code table for pellets and briquettes
(Source: http://res.borzen.si/DesktopDefault.aspx)
Pellet consumption is relatively small in Slovenia except for one case. According to
Geonardo’s research two power plants are purchasing pellets to substitute charcoal.
The two power plants are in Trbovlje and in Sostanj and use low quality pellets for
combustion.
In the table below six major traders are listed who are exporting pellets. As
mentioned in the previous chapter three companies use Italian standards. At the
moment, the biggest share of wood pellets is exported.
The relative location of Slovenia is more fortunate compare to other Balkan countries
regarding the closeness of foreign western markets. On the previously mentioned
conference organized by UNECE and FAO, Mr. Alen Bukvic presented a calculation
for transport costs of one ton of pellet on trucks. According to Mr. Bukvic the
difference is 15 EUR/ton if pellets is transported from Slovenia or from more eastern
Balkan countries.
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Country report Slovenia
Table 2: Major trading companies in Slovenia
Pellet trader
Sales to:
Istrabenz – Gorenje, Nova Gorica
•
Italy (60 %)
•
Slovenia (40 %) (power plants)
•
Italy (90 %)
•
Slovenia (10 %) (small shops)
•
Italy (80 %)
•
Slovenia (20 %) (15 % to power plants)
•
Austria (20 %)
•
Italy (20 %)
•
Slovenia (60 %)
ENERLES d.o.o.
Profilles
LINDAP d.o.o.
BIODOM
Slovenia
Peleti-Expres doo
Austria
Regarding prices the Slovenian Forestry Service project (TCP) showed that prices
fluctuate between € 120 and € 190, depending on packing type. During Geonardo’s
research prices hardly exceeded these values.
Table 3: Prices of wood biomass in Slovenia, August-September 2004
(Source: State of the art of wood biomass preparation and use in Slovenia,
TCP project final report)
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€/t
€ / stacked m
Logs
45
40
Wood chips
13 - 25
Briquettes
62 – 166
Pellets
117 - 186
3
€ / loose m
3
5 - 21
Geonardo
Country report Slovenia
4. Mixed biomass pellets
According to Geonardo’s research, there are no producers, traders, retailers or
consumers of agropellets or mixed biomass pellets (MBP) in Slovenia. The market is
in the initial stage and does not show any tendency towards further development.
The use of MBP is mainly focused on medium to large-scale heat and power plants.
The Slovenian report on the implementation of Directive 2001/77/EC states that wood
is used primarily in industry (electricity production) and does not mention the use of
mixed biomass pellets. Therefore, it seems that MBP are currently not used in
Slovenia.
Energy policy targets in the Republic of Slovenia set out in the Resolution on the
National Energy Programme (OJ RS, No. 57/04) include increasing the share of
renewables in the supply of heat from 22 % in 2002 to 25 % by 2010 (Report of the
Republic of Slovenia to the European Commission on the implementation of Directive
2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of
electricity produced from renewable energy sources). Energy policy targets include
raising the share of electricity from renewables from 32 % in 2002 to 33.6 % by 2010.
This also may indicate the use of MBP, though in the light of other circumstances,
this does not significantly increase the potential for market development.
“The basic barrier causing slow development of electricity generation from
renewables is low purchase prices. It is evident from the European Commission
report COM(2005) 627 that prices in the Republic of Slovenia are among the lowest
in the EU-25” (Report of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Commission on
the implementation of Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources).
The above-mentioned report says that another serious barrier to the development of
the wood pellet market is the unsuitability of the fixed purchase prices mechanism.
The reason why it is unsuitable is that the price of wood biomass on the market is
changing (increasing). It is recommended that the purchase price of electricity from
wood biomass power plants should depend on the price of wood biomass on the
market. In the case of Slovenia, the price factor does not seem to be applicable to the
MBP market, but this is simply due to the fact that the MBP market is not established
in the country.
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Country report Slovenia
5. Legal framework and legislation
Several Slovenian policy initiatives address the use of RES (based on: Mr. Lojze
Subic, AURE, 2005):
•
“Resolution on the Strategy of Energy Use and Supply of Slovenia” - February
1996, long-term objective to substantially increase the share of renewable
sources within the primary energy balance;
•
“The Energy Act” - September 1999, places special emphasis on the promotion of
the use of renewable energy resources and gives priority to the utilisation of
renewable resources before the energy from non-renewable resources;
•
The Resolution on the National Energy Programme, National Assembly (ReNEP)
- May 2004, The ReNEP proposes financial support of € 7.3 million per year for
implementing the programme in the field of woody biomass, while the proposal
for the yearly budget intended for efficient energy use and RES amounts to
€ 58.3 million per year.
Moreover, for the period 2007 – 2013 Operational Programmes have been launched,
approved by the European Commission:
http://www.svlr.gov.si/en/main_gosp_areas_of_work/eu_cohesion_policy_department/.
The National Strategic Reference Framework states that programmes will be
implemented that promote investments to increase energy efficiency and the use of
renewable energy sources (e.g. use of modern technologies for heating). The
indicative budget for the period allocated to the thematic area “Energy: Renewable
energy: Biomass” is € 21.300.000.
The support of biomass as renewable energy source (i.e. production, usage, and
technological development) is covered by programmes like the National Strategic
Plan of Rural Development raising added value and the quality in production and
processing of agricultural, food and forestry products. Activities in this field will aim at
strengthening the effectiveness, innovation, quality improvement and environmental
protection in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural, food and
forestry products. Furthermore, the Operational Programme Strengthening Regional
Development Potentials (The determination of measures enabling the modernisation
of the existing and the introduction of new technologies encompasses the
environmental requirements concerning the use of renewable energy sources) and
the Operational Programme of Environmental and Transport Infrastructure
Development (rehabilitation of heating systems, installation of condensation and
modular boilers, installation of boilers using wood biomass) are aimed at promoting
renewables.
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Country report Slovenia
6. Projections on future developments
Slovenia has a great potential regarding woody biomass resulting from the
abundance of forestland. According to the Slovenian Forestry Service the cut of
woods for energetic purpose is increasing continuously during the last years.
Technological development and dissemination of information on improvements in
firewood, wood chips or pellet combustion equipment promote increasing sales of
these goods.
The Slovenian pellet market is characterized by a significant competition with other
forms of firewood (e.g. wood chips) but in general the market is growing. Since 2004
when the first major producers started operating pellet plants the production
multiplied. Concerning the quality of the pellets produced mainly Italian standards are
relevant. As the interviews with the companies revealed the main export target
country is Italy. Slovenia is well located to leverage export opportunities to Western
European markets. The domestic consumption is also rising and large-scale
consumers, namely several power plants, use low quality pellets for co-combustion.
The Slovenian biomass market is also supported by an online trading platform
available in English as well.
As forests are abundant and thus wood is available in large amounts it seems like
wood pellets will become competitive in the near future. Furthermore, national
legislation and operative programs initiated by the state are in place to promote
further market development.
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