RBBD – Regional Biomass Business Development

The key aim of the Regional Biomass Business Development (RBBD) project is to support biomass  business development in the South East Region, Ireland; South East Region, Sweden and Voru Region, Estonia through support and development of enterprises along the bioenergy supply chain.

Key Objectives of the project are

• Enhance and develop the enterprises and businesses involved in the production of biomass fuels
• Maximise the use of biomass heating systems (domestic and commercial scale) through capacity building within the installers and end users of such systems
• Support the development of biomass district heating systems in key strategic zones

The Regional Biomass Business Development (RBBD) project will look at particular aspects of the biomass heating supply chain. These particular issues have been highlighted due to their common regional issues and also relevance to Regional Action Plans (where they exist). The RBBD project will focus primarily on private forestry and large scale heating projects and the issues listed below link directly to these areas.

• Lack of cohesiveness of biomass producers (a single strong voice is required to represent and coordinate the growers to achieve scale and get market share)
• Lack of precise useful knowledge of how much biomass there is available in the regions
• Commercial and Domestic sectors lack confidence in the supply chain
• Consumers don’t feel that they could depend on their wood pellet/ chip provider as much as the oil providers.
• Perceived quality issues with boiler installations being fit for use
• Perceived quality issues with fuel
• More focus is required in regional policy documents, such as county development plans

RBBD brings partners together from Ireland, Sweden and Estonia who will implement actions which will seek to address all of the above issues. In Ireland the partners include the four Local Energy Agencies in Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Carlow/Kilkenny. In Sweden the South East Sweden Energy Agency will be the partner and Estonia is represented by the Borderland Energy Development Agency. All partners have varying ranges of expertise in the field of bioenergy. Particular expertise exists in Sweden which will be shared. All partners will exchange experience, knowledge and skills.

The three focuses areas of the project are

• Producers Groups: Supporting owners of biomass resources (mainly private forestry owners) to create new, or develop existing, producer groups. The aim is ensure that the biomass resources can be maximised in the relevant regions. Information seminars, exchanges of best practice and identification of training requirements will be key actions.

• Installers/Clients: By ensuring that quality biomass systems are available within the regional markets and that potential clients have confidence in these systems biomass targets can be reached. Business to Client exchange forums will be organised along with relevant technical supports.

• District Heating: In many parts of Europe District Heating is widely used. However, in some regions DH development is restricted by a range of barriers (financial, technical, political). A review of potential projects will be completed and suggestions provided to implementation.

All three focus areas will produce policy inputs in each region to help support the future development of biomass in each region. The project will also produce reports which will be available for use throughout the NWE region. The project will have a specific focus on dissemination of activities and results. This will include a specific website, seminars, conference and project events.