Analysis of the supply of vine cane and wood cuttings to biomass power plants

Pintér, Gábor – Németh, Kornél – Kis-Simon, Tünde

Keywords: vine cane, cuttings, supply, burning

The production of electricity from biomass is spreading in Hungary as well. This paper looks at the possibilities of supplying vine cane and wood cuttings produced in Hungary to biomass power plants. In 2009, five large Hungarian power plants already use raw material from the nearby managed forests. An extremely large quantity of vine cane and wood cuttings are produced in Hungary which are suitable – but not used – for electricity production, even though our calculations indicate that such supply could be economical if the distance to cover is less than 45 km. Our paper points out that as burning such by-products in a power plant has little potential for profitability, such use could instead serve to enable farms to get rid of the ‘surplus’ by-products and to resolve issues of disposal and destruction. Some farms could achieve a reduction of their costs this way. The authors have found that cooperation between farmers and communities utilising biomass as a by-product is again essential if they are to step up as a viable negotiating partner of the power plants.

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