BioEUParks
“Exploiting the potentialities of solid biomasses in EU Parks”
Treating issues related to the efficient and sustainable supply chain of biomass for energy production, the project “Exploiting the potentialities of solid biomasses in EU Parks”, in short “BioEUParks”, became eligible under the Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) Programme and received a total budget of EUR 1,3 Million over a 36-month period. The project started in April 2013 and ended in March 2016. BioEUParks was coordinated by Legambiente ONLUS and consisted of ten partners from seven EU countries. Five partners (Italy, Hungary, Greece, Austria and Slovenia) hosted the nature parks, which are all part of Natura2000 network. The other five partners (Italy, Germany, Greece, Slovenia and the Netherlands) represented environmental associations and managing and research bodies familiar with biomass, bioenergy and forestry. The main objective of BioEUParks was to develop a methodology for the design, management and promotion of short biomass supply chains (<50 km) and small-scale heating and CHP installations (<1 MW) in European nature parks, utilising solid biomass from sustainably managed forests and agricultural residues. The project activities were organised in four macro-phases:
- Informing and awareness raising of the directly and indirectly affected local community
- Setting up one sustainable solid biomass supply chain in each nature park
- Exchanging experiences between and capacity building of directly involved stakeholders
- Dissemination of intermediate and final results among the interested public
The German Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) is in charge of one of the key work packages „Development of a solid biomass supply pathway“. The main goal of this work package is to develop a guideline for the development of sustainable supply chains in nature parks. This will be tested in the five participating nature parks and will serve as an example for other European nature parks. The developments in the relevant legislation at the EU (e.g., Directive 2009/28/EC and Recommendations COM(2010)11) and national level are closely monitored and taken into account. In April the kick-off meeting took place in Berlin, at which the work programme as well as questions on sustainability were discussed.
