Potential for Agricultural Biomass Production for Energy Purposes in Poland: a Review
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A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Baum, Rafał; Wajszczuk, Karol; Pepliński, Benedykt; Wawrzynowicz, Jacek Article Potential For Agricultural Biomass Production for Energy Purposes in Poland: a Review Contemporary Economics Provided in Cooperation with: University of Finance and Management, Warsaw Suggested Citation: Baum, Rafał; Wajszczuk, Karol; Pepliński, Benedykt; Wawrzynowicz, Jacek (2013) : Potential For Agricultural Biomass Production for Energy Purposes in Poland: a Review, Contemporary Economics, ISSN 2084-0845, Vizja Press & IT, Warsaw, Vol. 7, Iss. 1, pp. 63-74, http://dx.doi.org/10.5709/ce.1897-9254.74 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/105415 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu 63 Primary submission: 06.02.2012 | Final acceptance: 12.09.2012 Potential For Agricultural Biomass Production for Energy Purposes in Poland: a Review Rafał Baum1, Karol Wajszczuk1, Benedykt Pepliński1 & Jacek Wawrzynowicz1 ABSTRACT This article reviews the production capacity of Polish agriculture with respect to biomass used for energy production. The forecast production potential of agricultural biomass in Poland in 2020 in- cludes three key areas: the expected consumption of renewable energy according to energy type, the energy potential of agriculture and barriers to the use of biomass. Studies have shown that in Poland, total energy consumption will significantly increase (over 10% by 2020). Growth of demand for renewable energy will primarily result from strong growth of demand for transport biofuels and electricity. In 2020, approximately 80% of final energy from renewable sources will come from biomass. More than three-quarters of the biomass will be generated from agriculture. In Poland, crops from 1.0 to 4.3 million ha can be used for energy production. The study shows changes in the structure of biomass use, and the analysis confirms the declining share of biomass for heat production and the increasing share of biomass for electricity and biofuels. The main obstacles to the continued use of agricultural biomass are a lack of local markets for biomass energy and poor financial support for energy crop production. KEY WORDS: biomass, biomass production, agricultural biomass, energy crops, biofuels JEL Classification: Q16, Q41, Q42, Q47 1 Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland Introduction reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate The increasing importance of limatec change and the Change (IPCC) established in 1988. Dialogue and need for environmental protection occasion new op- mutual understanding regarding problems faced by portunities for cooperation between researchers and humanity constitute a huge challenge. Political con- policy-makers. Efforts are being made worldwide, siderations and the competing interests of individual at various levels and on different scales, to integrate countries frequently hinder the realization of global actions undertaken by scientists and other interested ecological aims, as exemplified by the fiasco of theo C - parties (Falkenmark, Gottschalk, Lundqvist & Wout- penhagen Climate Change Conference in 2009 (Tollef- ers, 2004; Holmes & Clark, 2008; Totlandsdal, Fudge, son, 2009)1. Sanderson, van Bree & Brunekreef, 2007). A posi- The European Union (EU) is a leader in the adop- tive example of such activity is provided, e.g., by the tion of eco-friendly solutions, establishing highly am- bitious objectives to be reached by the year 2020. In Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: 2008, the European Parliament passed a package of Rafał Baum, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 28 Wojska Pol- resolutions referred to as the climate package (the so- skiego Str., 60-637 Poznań, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] called “3x20”). The aim of the package was to launch, www.ce.vizja.pl Vizja Press&IT 64 Vol. 7 Issue 1 2013 63-74 Rafał Baum, Karol Wajszczuk, Benedykt Pepliński & Jacek Wawrzynowicz within the EU, a “green revolution” in industry and The study is a theoretical review that takes a heuris- power generation, i.e., a transition from high-emission tic approach. The presented forecast is a fragment of coal to renewable energy sources and energy conser- broader analyses conducted within the framework of vation. In the general opinion, the adopted package a research project2. achieves a balance between environmental concerns and the interests of the industrial sector. 2. The macroeconomic context The assumed objectives adopted by the EU have re- In the above-mentioned EU climate and energy pack- sulted in increased interest in the cultivation of energy age (December 17, 2008), it was assumed that by 2020, crops. Efforts undertaken by scientists aimed at sys- the EU member countries would realize the following tematizing information on energy crop cultivation are objectives: evident. Efficient practice requires guidelines concerning - reduction of CO2 emission by 20% compared with the utilization of agricultural biomass for energy purpos- 1990, es and optimal production (both quantitative and quali- - increased consumption in the EU of energy from tative). Introduction of the above-mentioned solutions renewable sources from 8.5 to 20% of energy is complex. Production of energy biomass will provide needs, farmers with new prospects and possibilities to diversify - an increase in energy efficiency of 20%. agricultural activity. Some of these crops may compete In Poland, in November 2009, a document entitled “En- for land and other resources with traditional crops, while ergy policy in Poland by the year 2030” was adopted by other crops may be grown on marginal lands or even eco- the Council of Ministers (Ministerstwo Gospodarki, logically degraded areas and thus have a positive effect 2009). It presents the government’s strategy and propos- on the environment (Zegada-Lizarazu et al., 2010). es means of meeting the most important challenges fac- In view of the circumstances described above, there ing the Polish power industry. The primary objective of has been growing interest in studies that present future energy policy in terms of the development and utiliza- energy scenarios. In these studies, energy demand (in tion of renewable energy sources is to increase the pro- various forms) and available energy resources (non- portion of renewables in the total consumption of en- renewable and renewable) are estimated. Then, the en- ergy by at least 15% by 2020 and to further increase this ergy balance, i.e., a comparison of energy supply and index in the following years. Moreover, it was assumed demand (Sørensen, 2008), is assessed. that in 2020, a 10% share of biofuels will be achieved in the automotive fuels market and that the utilization of 1. Aim and methodology of the study second-generation biofuels will be increased. The circumstances described above indicate the need Poland has considerable renewable energy re- for analyses of the potential of Polish agriculture to sources (it is estimated that the technical potential of produce biomass for energy production. The primary renewables exceeds that of Denmark and Sweden) that aim of this paper is to present a forecast of the produc- may be used to meet almost 50% of national energy tion potential of agricultural biomass in Poland in the demand. Nevertheless, of the total energy balance in year 2020. 2010, energy from renewable sources amounted to The detailed scope of the study will include the fol- approximately 9% of final energy consumption. Nu- lowing factors: merous forecasts conclude [e.g., the Polish Ministry of - forecasted consumption of renewable energy in Economy (Ministerstwo Gospodarki, 2009) or the In- terms of energy types (electrical energy, heat, auto- stitute for Renewable Energy (IEO, 2010)] that in 2020 motive biofuels), a vast majority of final energy from renewable energy - energy potential of agriculture (sources of agricul- sources will need to be produced from biomass, par- tural biomass, utilization structure of agricultural ticularly agricultural biomass. biomass, the volume of production of solid bio- Poland is perceived, within the EU, as a country mass, biogas and biofuels, cultivation area of en- with a high potential for biomass production for en- ergy crops), and ergy purposes. The results of analyses and estimates - barriers to the utilization of biomass. prepared by some specialists indicate that, in Poland, CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS