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The high-priority topic of wood biomass and renewable energy sources was discussed at the 8th International Energy Conference held on February 27th in Zagreb, organized by the Croatian Wood Cluster and CROBIOM – Croatian Biomass Association. The conference was attended by WBA President, RemigijusLapinskas and Eric Vial from the European Pallet Council. They supported the biomass and pellet production sector in Croatia, where 280,000 tons of pellets are produced annually. It is expected that capacity will reach 400,000 tons in the coming years.

On this occasion, the CROBIOM and the World Bioenergy Association signed and published the Bioenergy Agreement as a guideline for the development of bioenergy in Croatia towards 2030.

Croatia can contribute to European energy independence and global aim to fight climate change. However, it is necessary to improve the energy policy in a sustainable one that will encourage the development of new fuels and successful replacement of imported fossil fuels. CROBIOM President, Raoul Cvecic Bole, pointed out that it is necessary to increase local biomass utilization in accordance with the EU principles.

More than 230 leading bioenergy experts of forestry, agriculture, the heating, transport and power sector, as well as science and technology providers from Croatia, the southeast Europeand 9 other EU-member states, met in Zagreb to discuss the future of bioenergy. Thematic emphasis was put on the implementation of the REDII directive and the market position of biomass and wood fuels, as well as the new technologies, CHP plants’ quotas, trends in pellet and biomass exports and the greater use of EU funds.

The conference was held under the auspices of the Croatian Parliament and five ministries and was opened by the minister of environment and energy Mr Tomislav Coric. It is interesting that three former ministers also attended this event, currently in the status of MPs in the Croatian Parliament.

Croatian MEPs, Jozo Rados and Davor Škrlec gave keynote presentations and encouraged the sector saying that biomass is still an excellent energy source. They also stressed that it is necessary to accelerate the energy transition towards the RES and the low-carbon economy.

Over 250 participants at the 7th International Wood Energy Cocnference, held in Zagreb, on Friday February 24th, extensively discussed current situation in the renewable energy sources and biomass sectors. This year’s Conference was held under the auspices of Croatian Ministry of Environment and Energy, with presence of prominent experts and NGOs, among whom are Davor Škrlec, MEP, Eric Vial, European Pellet Council director, dr.Heinz Kopetz, World Bioenergy Association senior consultant, and AIEL‘s Board of Directors member Paolo Perini. Continue reading →

This year’s conference retains a high level of international speakers and participants. The President of the European Pellet Council, Eric Vial, will hold a lecture on the importance of certification and promotion on the use of pellets. Representatives of the global leading association in bioenergy sector, the World Bioenergy Association (WBA), will speak about the role of bioenergy in the European energy policy and the impact on climate change. WBA is actively advocating replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. To Zagreb is also coming the Italian Association of Biomass Producers, AIEL, which actively promotes development and increased use of agricultural and wood biomass and wood fuels.

Croatian MEP and the member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Davor Škrlec, will hold a main lecture on the Commission’s Winter Energy Package and the status of renewable energy, which has recently sparked conflicting reactions by supporters of fossil fuels or biomass. Škrlec is very active in defending the RES positions, both at the EU and national level.

Despite the good raw material predispositions, district heating systems in the southeast European countries are still symbolic developed. Vanja Curin, director of the Sarajevo based company Dvokut Pro, also a member of the AEBIOM Board of Directors, will provide an overview of the investment in a power plant in Livno, with the central heating system and biomass cogeneration in Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The conference will also show the district heating system of the prison in Glina.

Financers and representatives of investment and development banks, which actively monitor the investments in the energy sector,  confirmed their participation in the conference. Among other registered participants, there are the Erste & Steiermärkische Bank, OTP Bank, Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc. This interest of bankers confirms the fact that biomass and wood fuel projects remain conjunctural.

Technology suppliers for pellets and wood energy production traditionally recognize the Energy Conference in Zagreb as an excellent platform for networking and presenting their latest technological achievements. Many innovations will be presented by manufacturers of boilers, KBE Bioenergie, Uniconfort and Polytechnik. At the conference is also coming another Austrian specialist for bioenergy, the Herz Group. Great interest of Austrian technology suppliers confirms again this year, as the company Syncraft applied as the conference sponsor. The presence of technology suppliers from Slovenia and the Czech Republic is also expected. 

Dynamic and well structured program as well as relevant conference topics attracted the interest of foreign embassies in Croatia, which have, on several occasions, participated in similar meetings. Biomass and the forest-based industries issues are interesting to foreign investors, thus the Conference will host several representatives of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark, Embassy of Finland and representatives of the Chinese and Japanese embassies, while other diplomatic offices also showed interest.

Sectoral lobbying has yielded results and positive outcome of the parliamentary debate in the Republic of Italy regarding reduction in the VAT rate on wood pellets of 22 percent to the previous rate of 10 percent is expected. In the opinion of Raoul Cvecic Bole, president of the Croatian Association of Pellets, Briquettes and Wood Biomass Producers and director of company Energy Pellets from Delnice, Continue reading →

This respectable cogeneration plant on biomass of investors Slavonija OIE (Slavonia RES), worth 17 mil. EUR, enables to this veneer and flooring factory from Slavonski Brod, Slavonia DI, maximum utilization of wood waste, which makes them completely energy independent of other energy suppliers. Continue reading →