Lithuanian energy minister discusses biofuels with Svebio

While Lithuania is a leading EU member state when it comes the use of renewables in the heat and power sectors, the country lags when it comes to transportation. Currently, Lithuania has about 3.8 percent renewable fuels in transportation but must reach the EU target of 10 percent by 2020.

Therefore there is an urgent need to make decisions to increase the proportion of biofuels in petrol and diesel. Sweden on the other hand currently has over a 20 percent share of biofuels in the transport sector. In diesel alone, the share is over 25 percent and without double counting whereas for vehicle gas, the share of biomethane is 90 percent.

Against this background a delegation from Lithuania led by energy minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas and the Lithuanian ambassador to Sweden, Algimantas Rimkunas visited the Swedish Bioenergy Association’s (Svebio) office in Stockholm on October 25 to discuss policy and steering instruments for biofuels in transportation. Discussions included fuels such as E10, HVO diesel and biogas.

Lithuania has in recent years made a very rapid transformation of the district heating sector and reduced dependence on Russian fossil gas. A few years ago, 70 percent of district heating came from fossil gas, while 30 percent was biofuel. Today, the numbers are reversed, and in some years the share of bioenergy in district heating will be more than 80 percent. Lithuania also has a unique platform in biofuels trading – Baltpool. Sweden and Lithuania have a lot to learn from each other, commented Gustav Melin, CEO at Svebio.