ABSTRACT
Following the first oil shock of the 1970s the Commission of European Community (CEC) had initiated (under the leadership of Dr. W. Palz) a wide R&D Dem program on renewable energy. In May 1978 I moved from EURATOM association-Commisariat à l’énergie atomique (EURATOM-CEA/EDF) nuclear fast breeder program (Super-Phoenix projects) to a position at the European Commission (EC) DG XII Renewable Energy Program, managing the photovoltaic bioenergy wind energy subprograms. In the year 1984, following the presentation at the European Parliament of the project “IDEA” by Prof. Umberto Colombo (Club of Rome), proposing the full exploitation of the biomass potential in the EC and conscious (from the preliminary but wide EC R&D Dem. results) of the large possible energy-socioeconomic-environmental benefits deriving from sustainable exploitation of endogen biomass of any type, I got the idea to sensitize regional authorities (as legal organizations responsible of the use of land and of rural development) about the possibility to exploit their biomass in the context of the common agricultural policy (CAP) on the European level. I took the initiative to promote the large European bioenergy network (LEBEN) (a network of large regional diversified bioenergy projects) in most of the EC 12 countries of that time. LEBEN was not an official activity of the CEC. However, many of the process technologies and activities proposed and being
considered at that time for the participating regions were derived from R&D Dem. work carried out by the CEC (feasibility study, pilot plants, demonstration plants, concerted action, etc.), covering relevant disciplines and technological processes in the areas of biomass production, harvesting, thermochemical conversion, biological conversion, and its end use. Products of major interest include heat and power generation, biofuels (biogas: biomethanal, bioethanol; bio-syngas), pulp for paper, fertilizers, composites, etc. Thus during the period 1985-1992 about 16 regional LEBEN projects were assessed, most with some financial support, coordinated by my unit (DG XII). 5.2 Growth of the LEBEN Concept in the
The beginning and promotion of this network of regional biomass projects was based on my personal conviction (supported also by numerous and highly professional experts assisting the EC) manifested strongly in many of my speeches of that time as follows:We are approaching the time when very large agro-energy industrial projects could be introduced throughout the entire community. Our research and development programmers are actively supporting relevant technologies valid also for large-scale production, conversion and utilization of fuels and materials from biomass at a regional scale. This prediction wanted to emphasize the ever-increasing economic, social, and environmental importance of sustainable renewable agricultural and forest resources, including agricultural and solid wastes, as potential valuable commercial (commodity) sources of energy and materials in the context of the European
dimension. This taking into account that all national and regional governments are continuously confronted with a wide variety of challenging policy issues concerning the use of energy, environmental health protection, and socioeconomic development. Evolution and technological advances in the processing of biomass resources allowed more and more agriculture and forestry feedstock to yield an increasing range of products, not just for the use of biomass as an energy source which was not new, because in
the past most of the energy needs were indeed met by the direct combustion of biomass. Furthermore the rising cost of oil processing, the public concern about the environment and safety of nuclear power, and the increasing ability of the bioenergy sector to compete with conventional fuels had created the potential and promising perspectives for the exploitation of biomass on a massive scale. This is now confirmed (September 2014) by a recent study by the agency International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), quantifying that the potential contribution of bioenergy could reach 60% of all renewable energy and 20% of total energy needs. LEBEN was imagined to play a significative role in addressing these new emerging areas of public policy of particular interest also on a regional level, wherein lies the decentralized public governance authority. Ensuring that this potential would be fully exploited in Europe was the challenge faced by LEBEN, represented by a group of interested scientific experts and representatives of governments and industry brought together on an ad hoc basis. It was intended to serve as a model for public sector technological transfer activities and to stimulate the establishment of decentralized regional-oriented programs and of networks of stakeholders, providing support for the commercialization and deployment of innovative biomass technologies. The overall goal of LEBEN was to encourage the use of all biomass energy technologies which are technically feasible and cost effective, with its major focus on the transfer of current and reliable information to potential bioenergy users, planning activities best suited for each region, including preliminary technoeconomic information. Although the idea of LEBEN was not taken seriously at first, with the exception of the Abruzzo region (Italy), which was the first to consider it and ready to propose strong financial support for LEBEN Abruzzo. Successively the concept of LEBEN gradually gathered more and more strength, attracting interest from an ever-growing list of regions within the member states of the European community as well from Eastern Europe, China, Australia, and Latin America. In 1988 LEBEN involved 16 EC regional programs coordinated by the EC DG XII. The knowledge gained provided the first results and information to optimize the work on a regional level to the
administrations of these regions and confirmed the important role and contribution of biomass to their energy requirements with several associated benefits. However, the LEBEN concept produced some expected confusion, considering its wide scope: ● The wide range of raw materials from agriculture or forest activities ● The wide variety of conversion and utilization technologies ● The many forms in which biomass can be introduced into industry ● The geographical considerations and situation in each region Furthermore, at the beginning of the biomass programs most of the projects were conceived as individual and site-specific installations (biogas plants, bioethanol plants, power generators, gassifiers, heating plants, etc.), while by the adoption of large integrated schemes as proposed in LEBEN a much wider range of markets could be served simultaneously (electricity, heat, biofuels, paper, fertilizes, solid fuel, industrial rare materials, fertileness, desalinated wastes, composites for building, etc.) requiring integrated processing configuration. Hence, whilst the marketplace dictates the wanted products and their prices, a combination of climate, geology, land use patterns, and social conditions of each regional LEBEN will determine the limits, nature, and amounts of final biomass-derived products. However, it is the acquired scientific and engineering know-how (present and future) which will determine the ability to match biomass raw materials to the market’s needs. The economics and time frames of the technological developments are thus crucial for an optimized and sound establishment of the LEBEN concept and for its deployment in the European Union (EU) regions. However, the old concept of LEBEN can still be considered (after 30 years from its origin) a valid instrument for diversification of energy supply, diversification of agriculture, and forestry activity with considerable benefits, especially now having a much greater range of commercial processing technologies at our disposal. As a concluding remark, the development of the LEBEN concept can also offer an interesting contribution in alleviating the main problems of CAP (overproduction of food) by exploiting the estimated maximum EU biomass potential of 500-600 Mtoe/year.
