World Biomass Report Ed 1, 2011
The biomass market suffered during the economic downturn in the face of low coal prices, logistic barriers and supply issues. 2010 saw more movement in the sector as coal prices are beginning to rise once again making co-firing coal plants with biomass more attractive. Furthermore, the biomass component of a coal-fired plant may be eligible for feed-in tariff or count towards renewable portfolio standards.Most of these plants rely on wood pellets, often transported at great distance, rather than wood chips or other less dense biomass sources. In the wood pellets market, supplies from the US and Canada are cheaper than their European counterparts and thus North America is a major suppli- ers for European biomass plants. CIS countries, Russia, Australia and South Africa have entered as significant suppliers, which if they could ramp up supply, could be serious competitors to the US and Canada. Or in the case of Russia, resolve supply delay issues, could be one of the biggest players in the market.
