THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF STALK BIOMASS-FIRED HEATING PLANTS IN GERMANY

There is a significant potential of straw (8 to 13 million tons year(-1)) as well as in lower amounts of hay and landscaping materials in Germany, which has not yet been utilized for energy purposes extensively. Previous studies often showed lower economic efficiency of stalk biomass-fired heating plants compared to fossil fuel-fired heating plants in Germany. The reasons for this need to be identified and their origins need to be investigated. The project "Economic feasibility of stalk biomass-fired heating plants" is carried out to identify possible areas of improvement along the entire value chain of stalk biomass-fired heating plants. Based on these results planning targets for stalk biomass-fired heating plants are to be derived to ensure the economic viability of such facilities in the future. First results show, that in Germany stalk biomass-fired heating plants can only be competitive against fossil fuels by working at high capacity. Thereby, the economic efficiency of stalk biomass-fired heating plants is mainly influenced by fuel properties and local characteristics such as existing infrastructures.