BIOMASS AS ENERGY SOURCE IN LOCAL CONDITIONS
IN MACEDONIA
Ilija J. Petrovski, Risto V. Filkoski
University ”Sts Cyril and Methodius”,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Abstract: The paper is a result of an inception analysis regarding the energy potential of
biomass waste in several regions in the Republic of Macedonia. It contains an estimation of
the quantity and energy value of biomass waste from activities in forestry, wood processing,
agriculture and farming in the municipalities of Berovo, Gevgelija and Struga. Existing
studies and reports on current situation referring the usage of biomass energy in Macedonia
are reviewed. Evaluation of the available waste biomass material is made on a basis of field
investigation and official data from various sources. Technologies for biomass utilisation for
energy purposes, suitable to local conditions, are briefly presented. Possible heat consume in
the mentioned municipalities is analysed. Expected cost-effectiveness, non-financial and
environmental benefits are considered. Brief analysis of expected constrains and limiting
factors to the utilisation of bimass material for energy purposes in local conditions is given.
Initial research and analysis suggest that there are potential opportunities for effective use of
waste biomass energy in the regions of Berovo, Gevgelija and Struga.
Key words: biomass, renewable energy, combustion, boiler, environment
1. INTRODUCTION
In the framework of the activities towards the realisation of the sub-project ”Energy from
Biomass” of the project „Local Governance for Sustainable Human and Economic
Development“, financed by the UNDP in Macedonia, investigation of the available biomass
waste that could be used for energy purposes in the municipalities of Berovo, Gevgelija and
Struga is carried out [1]. This paper contains an initial estimation of the quantity and energy
value of biomass waste from activities in forestry, agriculture and farming in these
municipalities, chosen by the project financier. Also, possible ways and technologies for
utilisation of biomass energy, suitable to local conditions, are suggested. The paper is a result
of research completed during a number of visits to relevant subjects in the mentioned regions
and analysis of statistical data, literature sources and experiences of implemented projects
concerning biomass utilisation in various countries.
2. REVIEW OF EXISTING STUDIES AND REPORTS ON BIOMASS UTILISATION
Research work on available biomass waste as energy source in Macedonia and on possibilities
for its effective utilisation dates from the early 80-ies. In the framework of the study ”Biogas
Production in SR Macedonia” [2] a short survey is given of the waste combustible materials
in a few of enterprises in the country. Initial experience in biogas production from animal
farming, particularly from pig farms, is presented.
Wide research titled “Biomass as a Fuel – Possibilities and Limitations” is conducted in the
middle 80-ies in the former Yugoslavia under the coordination of the Institute ”Boris Kidric”
Vinca (IBK-ITE-504, Vinca, March 1985), concerned with a complex utilisation of biomass
as raw material and as energy source.
Important results that have arisen from the scientific investigations in the field of biomass
utilisation as energy source in the former Yugoslavia are sublimed in the publication
”Biomass Combustion for Energy Purposes” – N. Ninic, S. Oka, Yugoslav Society of
Thermal Engineers, Naučna knjiga Publ., Belgrade, 1992 [3].
One of the relevant data sources concerning the agriculture sector in Macedonia is
“Agriculture Sector Study, Macedonia”, a project completed by Senter, Utreht, The
Netherlands, in 1999 [4]. Although the main purpose of this study was to make an assesment
concerning the conditions of the agriculture in the country and to give proposals for
improvement of the co-operation between The Netherlands and Macedonia in this sector and
in separate sub-sectors, the results can be also used to draw conclusions regarding the
available biomass waste.
Within the bilateral co-operation of Macedonia and the Netherlands, the company Haskoning,
at the beginning of 2001 prepared ”Biomass Availability Study for Macedonia” [5]. The
objective of the study was to find out the kinds and quantity of biomass available in
Macedonia, the sectors in which it is available and the price. Three sectors were analysed:
forestry, wood processing and agriculture. According to this study, the annual growth of wood
is approximately 1.8 million m3 and the actual cut is 950,000 to 1.3 million m3. About 85 % of
yearly logging is fuel wood for domestic heating and 15 % wood for processing in wood
industry. During the logging 14 % of waste is produced. At an estimated wood density of 650
kg/m3, the waste wood availability is about 100,000 t/year. In the future, due to introduction of
modern logging techniques the amount of waste could be reduced to 7 %, which is about
75,000 m3 or 50,000 tons per year. In the wood processing, about 70,000 m3 of waste wood is
produced, partly by big and partly by small producers. At a density of 650 kg/m 3 this is about
45,500 t/year, which is mostly used in the factories’ boiler plants producing process steam and
heat for the buildings. In the agriculture various types of biomass are produced, such as wine
branches, fruit tree branches and rice chips. From the energy point of view, it seems that the
most interesting is utilisation of wine branches as potential fuel. The total theoretical and
practical annual availability of biomass waste in the sectors forestry, wood processing and
agriculture is shown in the Tab. 1 [5].
Tab. 1. Theoretical and practical availability of biomass waste from the sectors forestry, wood
processing and agriculture [5]
SECTOR
THEORETICAL AVAILABILITY
(ton/year)
1) Forestry
2) Wood processing
3) Agriculture
 Wine branches
 Straw
 Rice chips
 Fruit tree branches
100,000
45,000
436,000
Total
581,000
PRACTICAL AVAILABILITY
(ton/year)
50,000
15,000
55,000
81,000
334,000
4,000
17,000
50,000
0
500
4,500
120,000
At a practical availability of 120,000 tons of biomass waste per year and an average lower
heating value of 10 MJ/kg, at assumed moisture content of about 25 %, a potential 1,200,000
GJ of biomass can be incinerated in biomass boilers.
The main conclusions of this study can be sublimed as follows:
 As a result of activities in the forestry in Macedonia a huge amount of biomass waste is
produced yearly. However, the needs for heat in this sector are small and the overall
logistic, including the gathering and transportation, is complicated and expensive, which is
an obstacle to the increased use of biomass waste from the forestry for heating purposes.
 The waste produced in the wood-processing sector is mostly used in the producers owned
boiler houses in small and medium-scale boilers.
 Production of straw in the agriculture sector is considerable, but the use is economically
more appropriate for other purposes, rather than for direct combustion - heating. Annual
quantities of wine branches, rice chips and fruit tree branches are significant, while the
gathering from the smaller individual producers in actual conditions of non-existant
biomass market will continue to be one of the major difficulties.
 Practical availability of about 120,000 t biomass waste yearly from the sectors considered,
at assumed calorific value between 10 and 15 MJ/kg, suggests that there is an energy
potential of 330500 GWh/year. That means, there are possibilities for installing of
several tens of biomass-fueled boilers with heat capacity of 4 MW each.
In the framework of PSO-Program supporting by the Netherlands Government, the project
”Using Biomass for Heating of the Greenhouses in Lozar-Veles, Macedonia“ is completed.
The outputs of this project are as follows: collecting the wine branches and/or chips in a
storage place, constructing of briquette plant and dryer for biomass and building in a biomass
fired boiler. The total amount of cut wood is about 3,000 tons per year. This corresponds to a
caloric input of about 36 TJ/year. As the amount of oil consumption for the greenhouses,
which is about 2,200 t/year, is equivalent to 88 TJ/year, it means that about 40 % of the
energy consumption can be covered by the own biomass. Additional savings can be realised
by the introduction of automatic monitoring of the heat and temperature in the greenhouses.
3. PRACTICAL AVAILABILITY OF BIOMASS WASTE IN THE REGIONS OF
BEROVO, GEVGELIJA AND STRUGA
The total area under woods and wood cultures in the Males region (Berovo, Pehcevo and the
surroundings) is 40978 ha. About 77 % of the area is state owned wood and the rest is private
owned [6]. The total wood mass in arranged wooden areas is estimated at 7,096,646 m 3. The
actual cut in the Berovo region is about 30,000÷40,000 m3/year.
An overview of the state of the woods in the Malesh region (municipalities of Berovo and
Pehchevo) concerning the annual growth, maximum annual cut and sortiment structure is
given in Tab. 2, while data on actual annual cut in the Berovo municipality in the period
1996-2003 are given in Tab. 3 (according to the Republic of Macedonia State Statistical
Office: Statistical Rewiev: Agriculture – Forestry, 1996-2003, Skopje, 2004, [7]).
In the factory AD “Ograzden”, whose main activity is production of massive wood furniture,
between 12000 and 15000 m3 wood is processed yearly. During the production about 30 % of
waste is produced, which is partly used as fuel in factory boilers. Also, the factory owns
briquette production plant that gives 800÷1000 tons of briquettes/year.
Interesting subject from the point of view of biomass utilisation in the Berovo region is the
pig farm ”Žito Maleš”, which is a part of the enterprise AD ”Žito Vardar” from Veles. The
average number of animals in the farm is over 8000, sometimes reaching 9000. Pig slurry is
considered a strong agricultural waste and thus constitutes a great pollution hazard. The daily
quantity of waste matter from a pig farm mostly depends on the weight of the animals. Cattle
raising an animal weighing on average 100 kg produces around 2.5 l urea and 4 l fecals,
which, together with the waste water, makes about 7 kg waste matter per day from one 100 kg
pig. Pig slurry is reported to contain dry matter in the range of 5÷10 %, which gives 0.35 to
0.7 kg dry waste matter from one animal daily. Thus, the total quantity is around 4 t dry waste
matter daily.
Tab. 2. Maximum annual cut of wood and assortment structure in the Males region [6]
Assortment structure of the possible cut [m3/god.]
Logs
Technical
Pine
Wood for
wood,
small
domestic
(rotund
Beech
Pine
dim. (beech)
heating
shaped)
Waste
wood
40300
7800
1700
2200
2000
22000
4600
32488
20000
3000
3000
1000
500
10500
2000
125542
60300
10800
4700
3200
2500
32500
6600
Municipality
Annual
growth,
m3/year
Possible
cut
m3/year
Berovo
93054
Pehcevo
Total
Tab. 3. Actual cut in the Berovo region [7]
Year
Quantity,
m3
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
88082
90087
77169
52070
54134
47740
35999
50971
Waste matter from pig farms can be processed to biogas with approximately 60 % methan
(CH4) and stabilised manure for direct agriculture use, without harmfull consequences to the
soil and the vegetation. There is no established exact methodology for calculation of biogas
production plant. Certain recent experiences suggest that, with the method of anaerobic
fermentation in a plant with digestor, about 0.15 mn3 biogas can be produced from 1 kg dry
matter daily [8, 9], which, considering certain technological factors in the process,
corresponds to approximately 25 mn3 biogas/year from one 100 kg pig. Typical example of
chemical composition of biogas produced from the pig-farm slurry with the anaerobic
fermentation method is presented in Tab. 4.
Tab. 4. Chemical composition and calorific value of biogas produced with the method of anaerobic
fermentation of a pig farm slurry
Process
Laboratory
Continued proces, according to [6]
Biogas composition, %
CH4
CO2
H2
O2
H2 S
Calorific
value, kJ/mn3
55÷75
20÷30
1÷10
0÷2
0,1÷1
23000÷26000
62,2
16,2
6,2
2,0
0,8
23812
Biogas can be used as relatively high quality fuel in steam or hot water boilers, furnaces,
biogas engines in a plant for electricity production, with simultaneous utilisation of heat
contained in flue gases etc. Lately, even the possibilities for building energy plants with fuel
cells on biogas are subject of advanced research. As a result of activities in the pig farm ”Žito
Maleš” – Berovo, daily formation of waste liquid matter is usually between 70 and 80 m3,
which is collected in lagoons and partly used as soil manure. Simple estimation shows that the
daily production of biogas with the method of anaerobic digestion could be 600 mn3/day,
which, with assumed lower calorific value of 23,000 kJ/mn3, is equal to energy potential of:
1.4 GWh/year what is equivalent to about 125 t oil/year.
The Gevgelija municipality is situated in the southern part of Macedonia, near the border with
Greece. A combination of mediteranean and continental climate causes relatively high
temperature and hot days during the year. The region is characterised with 240 sunny
days/year, followed by relatively high daily temperatures.
There are several enterprises and other subjects in the Gevgelija region that produce
significant quntity of waste biomass in the forestry, wood processing, agriculture
(predominantly wineyards) etc. The total area under wood in the Gevgelija region is 45,128.5
ha. Possible annual cut of wood is somewhat above 50,000 m3. The real cut during the last
several years is about 35,000 m3/year and between 20 and 25 % of this quantity is technical
wood, but the so-called normative waste is really difficult to be collected in organised
manner. Activities in the area of wood processing result in annual production of 2,300÷4,000
m3 wood waste. This is equal to an energy potential of about: 6.028÷10.470 GWh/year or
equivalent to 540÷938 t oil/year.
In the Gevgelija region the area of about 2240 ha is under wineyards. With the assumptions
that approximately 3 tons of wine branches from one hectar are produced as waste during the
cut, as well as the possible collecting is between 50 and 70 % of the branches, the total annual
quantity is about 4032 t wine branches/year. Assuming that the calorific value of such
biomass is about 11500 kJ/kg, the total energy potential contained is 12,9 GWh/year, which is
equivalent to 1150 t oil/year.
The analysis of possibilities of biomass waste energy utilisation in the Struga region
comprised subjects involved in the forestry, wood processing, waste water treatment,
agriculture etc. The area under wood in the Struga municipality is about 23,787 ha, 90.5 % of
which is state property. According to the state owned company PSS ”Jablanica”, which
manages the forests, the total wood mass is estimated at 1,962,160 m3 and the annual growth
is about 39,000 m3. The annual cut of wood is between 33,000 and 34,000 m3/year. From that
quantity, 27,000 m3/year is wood for domestic heating (beech and oak wood) and the rest is
technical wood. Approximately 10 % of the cut, that means 3,300÷3,400 m3/year is normative
waste wood, which is usually collected by the local population. The waste material, scrapings,
produced during the processing of the technical wood makes almost 50 % of the initial wood
mass and it is mostly used in the company’s boiler plant. So, only the small quantity of the
wood processing waste of about 300 m3/year is not utilised. The total annual cut of wood in
the Struga region in the period 1996-2003, according to the data from the State Statistical
Office of the Republic of Macedonia, is presented in Tab. 5 [7].
Tab. 5. Annual wood cut in the municipality of Struga [7]
Year
3
Quantity [m ]
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
46043
37683
29999
43520
47427
47621
31970
29519
In the vicinity of the town there are several sawmills, which are of small to medium
processing capacity. The produced wood waste is mostly used for their own heating purposes.
The total agricultural land in the Struga municipality is about 7,000 ha. The most of it, about
4,000 ha, is under edible grains. During the harvest 1.5 t/ha of straw are produced and the
whole quantity is usually used for purposes other than energy. Between 1,500 and 2,000 ha of
agricultural land are sowed with corn (mostly hybrid). The biomass waste, corn stalks, is
estimated at 10 t/ha wet matter or 2 t/ha dry matter, which makes about 3,000 tons of dry
matter/year. Assuming that the calorific value of dry corn stalks is about 16.5 MJ/kg, the
mentioned amount of biomass waste gives energy potential of 13.75 GWh/year, which is
equivalent to about 1,230 tons of fuel oil per year.
According to data received from the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Resources,
wineyards area in the Struga region is somewhat bellow 100 ha. With average density of
2,500 grape-wine logs per hectare and average quantity of 1÷1.5 kg wine branches from one
log can be produced during the cut, the total annual quantity of branches from the wineyards
is between 235 and 350 t/year. Assuming that, in reality, 60 % of the wine branches can be
collected, that is still energy potential of 450÷672 MWh/year.
About 33 ha of agriculture land in the Struga region are fruit gardens. Due to the cutting
methods that are applied during the last few years, the waste wood from this sub-sector is
insignificant. Due to the specificity of the subject, the quantity, composition and possible use
of the matter collected in the process of waste-water treatment in the regional Struga-Ohrid
collector system (”Proakva” company) should be analysed in the future.
4. TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIOMASS UTILISATION SUITABLE TO LOCAL
CONDITIONS
4.1. Direct Combustion
Biomass is an organic matter that can be effectively used as a renewable local energy source.
Processes and technologies for conversion of energy contained in the biomass material, in fuel
(solid, liquid or gaseous), as well as in raw materials for the chemical industry, can be placed
in the following groups:
- termochemical (combustion, gasification, pyrolisis and production of methanol);
- biochemical (anaerobic fermentation for biogas production and aerobic fermentation for
ethanol production) and
- chemical (production of biodiesel and lubrication oil).
The oldest and still the most often applied process of vegetation biomass use for energy
purposes is direct combustion. Biomass of vegetation origin is natural solid fuel with high
content of volatile matter that causes easy flammability. Various kinds of biomass are often
characterised with similar composition, but very different assortment, moisture content and
calorific value, which affects very much the concept and the efficiency of the provided
combustion units. During the biomass combustion a number of thermo-physical and chemical
processes are taking place, such as: drying (at 60÷100oC), devolatilisation (mainly at
300÷400oC), ignition of the released volatile matter, ignition of the char (at 400÷600oC) and
char combustion (at 700÷1500oC). One of the factors that affect the way of biomass waste
utilisation is the dynamics of its formation. Namely, in the most cases biomass production
does not coincide with the dynamics of needs for heat. Another difficulty appears from the
physical properties of biomass: due to its small density it needs big storehouse space and,
also, the risk of fire is relatively high. Besides the mentioned limitations, the biomass waste
can be treated as alternative fuel, which can substitute significant quantity of fossil fuels,
particularly in the agriculture. Depending on the biomass shape, type and moisture content,
various classical and modern combustion technologies are available, including fluidised bed
combustion. Up-to-date boiler furnaces for biomass combustion should fulfill the following
conditions: the design must be adjusted to the specific characteristics of biomass fuel; the
furnace shape should be designed in a way to enable complete volatiles combustion and
optimal heat transfer conditions and combustion quality and furnace efficiency should be as
more as possible independent of the boiler load, biomass type and other affecting factors.
There are a number of possibilities and technical solutions for biomass utilisation for energy
needs in the mentioned regions. It must be mentioned that there are certain valuable
experiences with specific biomass types in Macedonia, concentrated mainly on direct
combustion of wood residues (”Ogražden” – Berovo and other wood processing companies),
rice chips (”Žito oriz”- Kočani), wine branches (”Lozar”- Veles) etc.
Figure 1 is schematic presentation of standard complete boiler plant with the necessary
equipment for combustion of waste wood. The plant is equipped with biomass silo with
additional equipment, system for dosing of biomass, boiler with combustion chamber with
sloping grate and flue gas cleaning equipment [10].
Fig. 1. Boiler plant for combustion of wood residues [10]
Schematic diagram in Fig. 2 presents combined system with hot water boiler fuelled with
biomass, heat acumulator and solar collectors. The incorporated heat acumulator enables
flexibility of consumers supply with heat. Such technical solution could be very interesting
for Macedonian conditions, where the annual number of sunny days is relatively high.
Fig. 2. Principal scheme of system with boiler on biomass with heat acumulator and solar collectors
One of the highly efficient methods for utilisation of biomass energy potential, both from the
energy and from the environmental point of view, is fluidised bed combustion. That is a
relatively new technology, which has been already proved regarding the fossil fuels, but there
are also boiler designs specifically created for biomass fuel, providing low NOx and SO2
emissions.
4.2. Production of Briquettes and Pellets
Production of briquettes and pellets from the wood residues, as well as from residues of the
agriculture production, for instance corn stalks, may be interesting from the energyenvironmental point of view in some regions in Macedonia. Processes of briquettes/pellets
production mean compression of wood biomass chips and pieces under high pressure. The
volume of these products is much smaller than the original biomass shape and, consequently,
they have much more concentrated energy density, making them more compact energy
source, easy for transportation and storage and enabling their efficient combustion.
Typical example of pellets properties (Holz-Energie-Zentrum), produced of wood processing
residues, is presented in Tab. 6 [10]. The norms defining the pellets quality, according to the
DIN standards, are given in separate columns for comparison.
Tab. 6. Typical properties of pellets produced from wood processing residues [10]
Norms for quality of waste
wood pellets
Diameter (D)
ÖNorm M 7135
DIN 51731
DIN plus
mm
4 to 10 mm
4 to 10 mm
Length
mm
5 x D¹
< 50
5 x D¹
Density
kg/dm³
> 1,12
1,0 - 1,4
> 1,12
Moisture content
%
< 10
< 12
< 10
Ash content
%
< 0,50
< 1,50
< 0,50
MJ/kg
> 18
17,5 - 19,5
> 18
Sulphur
%
< 0,04
< 0,08
< 0,04
Nitrogen
%
< 0,3
< 0,3
< 0,3
Chlorine
%
< 0,02
< 0,03
< 0,02
Calorific value
Comment
Not more than 20 % of the pellets may be longer than 7.5D
Having in mind numerous factors that affect the techno-economical feasibility of biomass
utilisation, it is very difficult to give a general estimation, for instance, to questions, such as:
what kind of energy source is more favourable in certain conditions? One example in this
direction is given in Tab. 7, showing a comparison between the costs of various heating
sources in Germany.
Tab. 7. Comparison between the costs of various heating sources in Germany
Living surface 140 m²
Special requirement of heat (energy-saving house) 70 kWh/m²/year
Yearly requirement of heat plus hot water 12 500 kWh/year
Oil-fired
heating
Gas heating
Electrical
heating
Pellets heating
Capital expenditure
Tank / connecting charge
1.800 €
1.200 €
-
1.300 €
Chimney / exhaust installation
1.600 €
600 €
-
1.600 €
Bunker plus accessories
-
3.400 €
3.000 €
Hot-water tank
800 €
800 €
800 €
800 €
Electrical installation plus control
250 €
250 €
1.100 €
250 €
3.300 €
3.300 €
Distribution of heat
4.900 €
3.300 €
-1.500 €
Development programme by the Government*
-
Capital expenditure total
11.150 €
9.150 €
6.800 €
12.450 €
0,89 €
0,89 €
1,00 €
0,89 €
Actual consumption in kWh
14,045 €
14,045 €
12.500 €
14.045 €
Low tariff 70%
-
Degree of effectiveness
-
6.700 €
-
-
8.750 €
-
High tariff 30 %
-
3.750 €
-
-
Consumption costs / year
Energy price € / kWh
0,03 €
Energy price € / l, € / m3, € / t
0,31 €
Basic charge / price for reading the meter
0,04 € 0,07HT/0,045NT
0,4 €
164 €
-
120 €
-
0,03 €
70 €
-
50 €
50 €
494 €
732 €
Chimney-sweep
50 €
30 €
-
50 €
Maintenance / cleaning
70 €
50 €
-
70 €
Spare parts / repairs
50 €
50 €
Auxiliary drives
Consumption costs total
50 €
851 €
499 €
Running costs / year
0€
50 €
50 €
0€
Running costs total
220 €
130 €
0€
170 €
Yearly costs (without capital expenditure)
714 €
862 €
851 €
669 €
Insurance
0€
-
*Additionally there are subsidies from federal programmes
4.3. Production and Utilisation of Animal Farm Biogas
One of the ways for effective utilisation of animal biomass is biogas production through a
process of anaerobic fermentation of the farm organic residues. Schematic presentation of a
plant for production of pig-farm biogas is given in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Plant for processing the pig farm residues to biogas with the method of anaerobic fermentation
5. EXPECTED COST–EFFECTIVENESS AND NON-FINANCIAL BENEFITS
In order to give a general assessment on different biomass utilisation options and to find an
optimal one more detailed comparative analysis of both the technical solutions and the heat
consume is necessary. Estimations of the payback period of the investment in the cases of pig
farm biogas plants in several European countries (Italy, Lituania, Finland, Bulgaria, Denmark
etc.) suggest the timing of 4-8 years. In the case of biomass of vegetative origin the payback
period is a little shorter. In any way, the total investment for construction of heat production
plant on biomass is relatively higher compared to a plant on fossil fuel.
Non-financial benefits of biomass use as local energy source are environmental, in the first
place. Using biomass for heat production means reduction of needs for fossil fuels. Also,
there are other direct positive environmental effects, such as reduction of SO2, NOx and other
harmful compounds. Reduction of CO2 emission, as one of the greenhouse gases, is another
important point. In the case of using of pig farm waste for biogas and manure production
effects are multiple: reduction of CH4 emission, produced CO2 can be treated as a part of
natural circulation, generated heat helps in improvement of the quality of the final product
and production of high quality natural manure that is not harmful for the soil. In the case of
utilisation of agriculture production residues, such as corn stalks for production of briquettes
or pellets, there are also multiple positive effects concerning the environment.
6. EXPECTED BARRIERS, CONSTRAINS AND LIMITING FACTORS
PREVENTING BIOMASS USE AS ENERGY SOURCE
Assessment of barriers, constrains and limiting factors to effective use of biomass waste as
energy source is an important step in the overall activity for intensification of biomass
utilisation. Although biomass waste, in general, is recognized as a potential fuel for local
heating systems within Macedonia, little is done on practical implementation level. However,
certain activities should be initiated to operationalise this potential in a sustainable manner.
Various barriers and difficulties are preventing the operationalisation of the potential, namely:
 Technical: Collecting of biomass from different relatively small individual producers,
transportation, drying and other preparatory works, briqueting, storage could be faced
with both, technical and financial problems.
 Financial barriers: Biomass energy systems are characterised with relatively higher
investment cost compared to other systems. Very limited investment capital is available;
the risks related to investments in the proposed investment area are relatively unknown.
Unfinished process of privatisation and bad financial condition of the population and the
most of the enterprises are additional barriers.
 Information barriers: Limited reliable data on the availability and location of biomass
waste exists at the level of detail required for developing investment plans.
 Institutional barriers: The key barriers are inconsistent and unsupportive government
policy and vulnerability of the country’s economy due to internal and external shocks.
Specialized energy departments are nearly non-existent at the municipal level. Republic of
Macedonia is at the initial stage of privatising energy services, e.g. electricity, heat and
hot water, with, as a result, an unclear context for the proposed projects to be developed
and implemented.
 Policy and regulatory barriers: No policy context/regulatory framework exists that
facilitates the introduction and dissemination of commercially viable local heating
systems, particularly on renewable energy sources, including biomass.
 Management barriers: Undeveloped market of biomass as fuel, except firewood. Lack of
skills and experience with locally based management of energy technology systems.
Based on the previous analysis, as a priority for efficient use of biomass in energy production
appears the necessity to create a biomass chain, meaning efficient gathering, previous
preparation, transport, briquetting or other methods for end use, storage, preparation for
combustion etc. Also, stimulus to use alternative energy sources should be given with the new
law regulations in the Republic of Macedonia, particularly in the field of energetics.
7. CONCLUSION
Conducted inception analysis and research suggest that there is a considerable potential for
effective utilisation of energy contained in the biomass waste in the municipalities of Berovo,
Gevgelija and Struga. On a basis of knowledge regarding the available quantity, type and
characteristics of biomass, appropriate technologies are suggested. Of course, more detailed
analysis in any particular case is necessary to give answers for technical details, as well as for
techno-economic justification of the biomass utilisation in certain conditions.
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 Ferolli, Italy
 EMO, Celje, Slovenija
 Finnish BioEnergy Oy, Taipalsaari, Finland
 SGP Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG, Wien
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