Croatia is the seventh EU Member State to celebrate its National Bioenergy Day on this year's listing of Bioenergy Europe's National Bioenergy Days. The country is one of the smaller EU Member States but forests cover around 44 percent or almost 2.5 million hectares of the land area. Residues from forestry- and wood processing industries are powering state-of the-art combined heat and power plants replacing fossil fuels.
The European Bioenergy Day campaign aims to shed light on the increasingly central role that sustainable biomass is playing in the EU’s energy transition.
According to Bioenergy Europe, bioenergy is a vital component of the EU’s energy system and economy, producing 85 percent of the EU’s renewable heat, representing alone one-third of renewable energy sector jobs, and saving enough carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to cover the annual emissions of Spain.
Awareness campaign
The campaign provides key facts on biomass and the bioenergy industry and celebrates people, projects, and companies contributing to achieving European carbon neutrality.
In the past years, Bioenergy Europe launched the European Bioenergy Day campaign to provide tangible, first-hand examples of how bioenergy impacts the lives of EU citizens.
Facts
Background European Bioenergy Day
First launched in 2018, the European Bioenergy Day campaign is powered by Bioenergy Europe and relayed across Europe by both national and international partners supporting the belief that bioenergy is more than a renewable energy source, but a reliable path that will lead Europe to achieve its renewable energy transition.
Each year, Bioenergy Europe calculates the Bioenergy Day of the European Union (EU) and each Member State, showing how long a Member State or the EU could meet their energy needs using only bioenergy until the end of the year.
Every National Bioenergy Day is accompanied by a story, showcasing the impact of bioenergy in the EU, whereas the European Bioenergy Day is highlighted at the annual European Bioenergy Future conference.
This year’s motto is “Our Shared Steps Towards the Energy Transition” and the 2024 European Bioenergy Day campaign aims to share these stories, highlighting how bioenergy supports the local (bio)economy, fosters innovation, and boosts the EU’s competitiveness.
As the EU advances towards its climate goals, bioenergy continues to expand its role as a key ally in the transition.
The new EU mandate will address critical issues such as climate change, energy security, and the rising cost of living.
In this context, bioenergy is a key ally for the EU’s economy, sustainability, and energy security.
It offers a viable alternative to fossil fuels and it is a key player in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology thanks to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and biochar through pyrolysis with carbon capture and storage (PyCCS).
Croatia – a growing bioenergy pearl
With a population of just over 3.8 million, Croatia is one of the smaller EU Member States but it is also one of the richest in terms of biodiversity.
Forests cover around 44 percent or almost 2.5 million hectares of the land area and comprise three ecoregions: Dinaric Mountains mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Illyrian deciduous forests.
PEARL Infrastructure Capital, a Luxembourg-headed private equity investment fund dedicated to financing environmental infrastructure projects, is one of the largest bioenergy operators in Croatia.
Since acquiring ENERGY 9, its first biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Croatia in 2019, the company has acquired two more installations including UNI VIRIDAS, currently the country’s largest biomass-fired CHP plant.
Combined, the three CHP plants have an installed capacity of 34 MWth and 16.6 MWe. In 2022, the combined output was 168 GWh of heat and 134 GWh of electricity to the grid.
In collaboration with Hrvatske Šume, the public organization tasked with managing Croatian forests, all three plants owned by PEARL use forest- and wood processing residues as fuel.
Located in the Slavonia region, the 13 MWth and 5 MWe ENERGY 9 CHP plant provides thermal energy for several industrial actors operating in the wood and agricultural sectors.
In Babina Greda in the Vukovar-Srijem region, the UNI VIRIDAS plant is with its 16 MWth and 8.6 MWe capacity currently the largest biomass cogeneration plant in Croatia. The plant supplies heat to agricultural projects as well as to a multinational wood furniture manufacturing company.
In Virovitica in the northern part of the Slavonia region, the A&A BIOENERGY plant is the smallest of PEARL’s Croatian fleet– 5 MWth and 3 MWe. Apart from Hrvatske Šume, the main supplier of biomass fuel, Croatian company AMS Biomasa is both a supplier of fuel and the off-taker of the heat that is used for its industrial drying processes.
Another bioenergy player is Croatia’s national energy company, Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group) which currently has two biomass-fired cogeneration plants in its portfolio – BE-TO Osijek CHP and BE-TO Sisak CHP respectively. Commissioned in 2018, both plants have 10 MWth and 3 MWe installed capacity and use woody biomass as fuel.
Both are built adjacent to existing HEP energy plant assets in Osijek and Sisak respectively, supplying process steam to local industries and district heating to the towns of Osijek and Sisak respectively.
