The potential of forest timber biomass in Bulgaria for the production of heat and electricity was discussed by forest experts at an interdepartmental group meeting in Hisar. Discussions took place within the third stakeholders meeting on 26 and 27 of September 2017.
The experts in the forum discussed the current European policies and regulations on forests and forestry, which are related to biomass for energy production. The current opportunities for the use of biomass as RES provided in the current program period 2014-2020 by the Operational Programs, the Rural Development Program, etc. were presented.
The participants got acquainted with the overall balance of production, consumption and trade of round timber in the country with an emphasis on the movement of technological timber and wood for the last five-year period.
SWOT and PEST analysis on the usage of timber biomass for energy were presented and discussed with proposals for. During the discussions, the experts agreed on the conclusion that in Bulgaria there is sufficient potential of timber suitable for energy production, without detriment to the other users of timber. The representatives of large timber processing factories in the Interdepartmental stakeholder group insisted that their total capacity and investment intentions should also be taken into account, not just the actually utilized timber for the five-year analysis period.
The experts discussed the mechanisms and conditions for promoting the use of biomass for energy purposes and agreed on the statement that there are multiple and diverse ways and instruments for external financing of activities related to the production of biomass and energy from forest biomass.
The forum was organized by the Executive Forest Agency in implementation of "Regional policies for sustainable bioenergy" project under the INTERREG program, Europe of the European Union.
