The future for thermal bioenergy plants (IEA Bioenergy Task 32)

In 2017, IEA Bioenergy conducted a survey to assess the topics of interest for the next triennium. Among the 358 unique respondents, “Bioenergy in future energy systems/system analysis” received the highest number of suggestions (41), making it the single most interesting topic to be studied in the near future.

With this premise, Ea Energy Analyses studied the future of thermal biomass plants in the power systems in the framework of the current IEA Bioenergy Task 32 phase 2015-2018. The focus was on the power and heat systems of thermal bioenergy, namely CHP plants and power plants, to balance the electricity demand.

The research question was threefold:

• What will be the future system requirements for thermal biomass plants in a VRES dominated system?
• What can the role of biomass be in helping to balance production and consumption?
• What is to be gained with more biomass power plant flexibility?

The results of the study was presented in form of a Technical Report by IEA Bioenergy Task 32 and at the IEA Bioenergy conference in San Francisco November 2018.

The project ran from November 2017 to November 2018.