With today, February 19, 2023, marking 25 years since the vessel Mandarin Moon set sail from the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia (BC), Canada laden with almost 16 000 tonnes of wood pellets, it seems apt to look forward to the next international biomass pellets event on the 2023 calendar – the European Pellets Conference that takes place in Wels, Austria on March 1, 2023, as part of the annual World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED).
It is less than two months into 2023, and already four biomass pellet events have taken place in Europe. Indeed it is back to Austria for a second time with the annual European Pellet Conference (EPC) as part of WSED.
For those interested in the biomass pellet space, it begs the question of what sets EPC apart from all the other biomass pellet events on the 2023 calendar.
According to the organizers, the Energy Agency of Upper Austria – OÖ Energiesparverband (OÖESV) – over 500 participants from 58 countries have registered for WSED with the “entire energy transition community” set to converge in Wels to “discuss how to accelerate the energy transition and concrete policies, technologies, and markets to get us there.”
This is entirely in keeping with WSED in Wels where a holistic take on the energy transition including energy efficiency, mobility, and bioenergy, is one of the characteristical features of the parallel programs of which biomass pellets has its own dedicated day.
The pellet conference program has conventional sessions on market outlooks, which by their very nature are fresh material, along with “concrete bioenergy policies and markets” and, for the latter suggests getting “insights on how to deal with the current challenges.”
It is a seemingly lofty claim, however, one ought to take into account that Upper Austria has an exemplary, if not enviable track record in developing pellet-based residential and commercial space heating – a visit to the concurrent “WeBuild – Energiesparmesse” provides ample proof of the wider regional and national socioeconomic benefits of using “carrots, sticks, and tambourines.”
Two other highlights worth mentioning are the related Pellet Innovation Factory – cutting-edge developments and R&D results in the pellets and bioenergy sector are to be presented, and the Young Biomass Researchers Conference.
In short, WSED is an intersection – a place of discovery for things you know you don’t know, for things you didn’t know you knew, and for things you don’t know that you don’t know. And of course for things you know that you know, or at least thought that you did.
