Forestry experts discussed the potential of timber biomass in Bulgaria for the production of heat and electric power at an interdepartmental group meeting in Hisarya. Discussions took place within the 3rd stakeholder meeting on 26th and 27th September 2017.
The experts in the forum discussed the current European policies and regulations on forests and forestry that are related to biomass for energy production. Current opportunities provided by the Operational Programs, the Rural Development Program, etc. in the programming period 2014-2020 have been presented in the context of the use of biomass for energy.
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.
As a summary of the conducted specialized analyses a presentation has been presented and discussed with proposals for SWOT and PEST analysis.
During the discussions, the experts agreed on the conclusion that there is sufficient potential of timber in Bulgaria that is suitable for energy production, without detriment of the other users of timber. The representatives of the 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 used timber for the five-year analysis period.
The experts discussed the mechanisms and conditions for promoting the use of biomass for energy purposes and they 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 timber biomass.
The forum is organized by the Executive Forest Agency under the "Regional policies for sustainable bioenergy" project under the Interreg Europe Programme of the European Union. The leading partner is the Forest Technology Center of Catalonia, Spain.
