Making Sweden fossil-free will require an increased supply of around 100 TWh of biomass fuels, up from 147 TWh bioenergy in 2017. "We have doubled bioenergy production before and we can do it again," says Gustav Melin, CEO, Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) during the launch of a new Svebio report "Färdplan Bioenergi" (Bioenergy Roadmap).
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Bioenergy and electrification have been identified as the two main pathways in creating a fossil-free Sweden and a business environment with climate-neutral competitiveness. That was the result of sector-specific roadmaps developed by within the Fossil-free Sweden coalition and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) report on how the Swedish energy sector can manage to achieve the climate goals.
Increased volumes of biomass for fuels will be needed both in industry, for electricity generation and for the production of biofuels for road transport, aviation, and shipping. Sweden already has a leading position in bioenergy, and bioenergy is the largest source of energy in our energy use.
According to the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio), the use of bioenergy in Sweden has increased during the period 2000 – 2017 by 3.5 TWh per annum to reach 147 TWh in 2017. Today, bioenergy is Sweden’s largest energy source and accounts for 38 percent of Sweden’s energy use. Much of this is forest-based. However, looking ahead to the medium and long-term questions arise:
- How much can Sweden increase the production and use of biomass for fuels?
- How much biomass is there that can be used in Sweden?
- What are the potentials?
- How should Sweden look at biomass and fuel trade?
- What advances in biomass conversion technologies and technology deployment can be expected?
To address these issues, Svebio has published a vision for bioenergy in Sweden – “Färdplan Bioenergi” (≈Bioenergy Roadmap). The key findings of the report were presented at a seminar in Stockholm (ff to 31 minutes) on January 16, 2020.
According to the report, making Sweden fossil-free will require an increased supply of around 100 TWh of biomass fuels – in 25 years, Sweden will be able to use 250 TWh of bioenergy. The report finds that there are significant opportunities to increase the supply of biomass both from the forest, agriculture and from waste, residues, and other by-products, sufficient to meet the increased needs.
The potential for increased supply is 82 TWh in the short term and 147 TWh in the longer term.
