Spanish society in need of 'much more information' about biomass

In 2016 installation in Spain of biomass equipment for thermal use and biomass stoves set a record in terms of the number of units installed, yet in terms of actual installed power 2016 was actually lower than 2015.

Although more biomass equipment was installed in Spain than ever before in 2016, this equipment only had a total power capacity of 1000MW. In 2016, the installed power was at 1300MW. According to the Biomass Observatory, the annual installed capacity with technical biomass equipment was down 23% on 2015, although it remains constant at 1020.6 MW. The number of units installed in 2016 stands at 38,851, 18% up on the figure for 2015.

According to a press release from EXPOBIOMASA 2017, these figures show that “Spanish society is still in need of much more information.”

“The biomass sector is gradually colonising the heating sector in Spain, but at a slower pace than predicted a few years ago. Overall, the Biomass Observatory indicates that, at the beginning of this year there were 198,887 high-performance biomass units operating in Spain, totalling an installed capacity of 8297.6 MW.”

Biomass Observatory figures show that 35,815 wood pellet stoves were installed in Spain last year, a 22% on the previous year. Apparently, marketing trends in Spain veer towards the DIY-department store channel, seeing a continued rise in “units that have less and less power but more and more technology: the average power of stoves sold in 2016 was 11.3 kW.”