Sustainable energy usage for power and fuels

Certification of bioenergy has become considerably more tangible with the publication of European Directive 2009/28/EU for the subsidisation of renewable energy usage on 5th June 2009 and the presentation of the government draft for national sustainability regulations for biomass usage and power generation on 10th June 2009. The provisions for the generation of power from biomasses were taken over into the biofuel sustainability regulations with the same contents; both ordinances are to be applicable in July 2009. The main point of the new statutory provisions within the EU is the minimum greenhouse gas savings in comparison to fossil energy at an initial level of 35% which will be demanded in the future. Consistent verification of the origin of any biomasses produced under the observance of further sustainability requirements is to be put into place along the goods chain in the form of a mass balance system.

The draft of the sustainability regulations proposes extensive certification of all those involved in the system from the collecting trade to the biofuel manufacturer (so-called interfaces) for the observance of the new requirements biomass energy usage, in addition to the documentation and monitoring of all upstream and downstream stages up to use and, for example, biofuel quota fulfilment. A certification system using certification institutions is at the centre of this complex system.

The German Federal Institute for Agriculture and Foods is to monitor the certification system and the certification institutions. At the end, the biofuel manufacturer issues the necessary sustainability verification which is required by the fuel manufacturer as a requirement for calculation of the biofuel quota or tax depreciation.

The graphic is available at www.ufop.de (Presse -> Pressebilder) for download