In Ukraine, the international project “Promoting the penetration of agrobiomass heating in European rural areas” (AgroBioHeat) was launched, designed to accelerate the process of practical implementation of the potential of agricultural biomass for energy production in Ukraine.
Agrobiomass is a major local resource in Ukraine. Today, this resource is underutilized. On the other hand, the use of agrobiomass is critical in achieving Ukraine’s energy and climate goals, as well as in the development of rural areas. Agrobiomass in its various forms (e.g. straw, prunings, agro-industrial residues such as olive stones and nut shells, energy crops, etc.) can be abundant in rural areas, ensuring both adequate fuel supply and short supply chains that create favourable conditions for economic and environmental sustainability. Energetic utilization of agrobiomass can also have positive social impact, in particular local job creation. Finally, from the technological side, modern heating solutions are available that can use agrobiomass with low emissions and high efficiency.
Despite these advantages, market uptake of agrobiomass heating is slow for various reasons: limited awareness of technology options, perception of agrobiomass as a difficult fuel to utilize, difficulties in matching supply and demand and lack of clear vision and support from policy makers. Successful cases exist but have limited visibility and are rarely known beyond their area of operation.
The AgroBioHeat project has been designed as a toolbox for overcoming these barriers and creating a favourable framework for extensive deployment of agrobiomass heating solutions. Most of the project activities aiming to promote agrobiomass heating will be implemented in six multiplication countries: Croatia, France, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Ukraine.
The project consortium includes 13 partners from 9 European countries with a wide range of competencies and backgrounds, from biomass & bioenergy, renewable energy or agricultural associations & clusters, to research technical partners with background in the field of biomass & bioenergy, to social science expertise and finally, a company providing heating solutions (installation and operation) based on biomass.
AgroBioHeat project goals:
- To increase agrobiomass for heating deployment accompanying 8 flagship projects and triggering more than 80 initiatives.
- To raise trust among stakeholders in agrobiomass heating solutions.
- To provide guidance and recommendations to policy makers at local, regional and national level to understand and set the instruments that will overcome the barriers for the advancement of the agrobiomass heating sector.
- To influence the review of the Ecodesign Regulation for solid biofuels boilers and the implementation of emissions limits for heating facilities of 500 kW to 1 MW.
- To understand the social acceptance factors and local specificities behind the success or hindering the development of agrobiomass heating solutions.
- To promote changes in the mind-set of the value chain actors and clusters as well as to empower them for the deployment of agrobiomass heating solutions.
- To enhance the competitiveness position of the European biomass heating solutions manufacturers and installers.
- To promote the visibility of agrobiomass heating to a large audience, including target and key actors as well as the general public.
The planned activities, among others, include:
- identification of successful projects for the production of heat energy from agro-biomasses, collecting and distributing information about them,
- finding the best potential projects in this direction, helping these projects to develop a business model and identify financial instruments;
- development of national strategies for the energy use of agrobiomass.
- Development of Position Papers: “Energy from straw”, “Energy from APPR biomass”, “Energy from agro waste” and “Energy from waste from the production of maize”. The last manual will be prepared by the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine.
Within AgroBioHeat, it is planned to search for interested stakeholders for further cooperation within the project.
Project target and key actors:
The main target actors of AgroBioHeat are the main potential adopters of agrobiomass heating solutions in a rural content:
- ESCOs & installers;
- renewable energy cooperatives;
- the public sector;
- farms and agro-industries.
In addition to the target actors, three sets of key actors are also critical for AgroBioHeat:
- policy makers;
- manufacturers;
- the local community.
Project Contacts in Ukraine: Georgii Geletukha (geletukha@uabio.org); Tetiana Zheliezna (zhelyezna[at]uabio.org)