Sector
Renewable energies (biomass)
Investment date
2018
Status
Disinvested
Contact
Development, construction and operation of a biomass district heating network for hot water supply and heating in Guadalajara, with a demand of 100GWh/year for residential, private and public buildings.
Energy demand for heating and cooling accounts for more than 50% of total energy demand in Europe, with space heating being the main source of heat demand in the residential and tertiary sectors. Currently, the vast majority of demand is met by fossil fuel-based systems (mainly gas and oil boilers), and only 0.2% of demand is met by renewable energy district heating in Spain (compared to 30% in the Nordic countries).
District heating is a centralised energy generation and supply system that allows the use of biomass as the main fuel, which is often not used in distributed heating systems due to space, price and supply chain constraints.
This district heating project uses biomass from wood waste for residential heating, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, CO2 emissions and air pollution through the use of gas cleaning systems. The project supports sustainable forest management with PEFC certification, which guarantees that biomass comes from sustainably managed forests and that the entire biomass supply chain meets stringent environmental, social and economic criteria. This includes criteria related to forest management, biodiversity conservation, worker safety and community engagement.
Residential consumers benefit from this technology by reducing installation and maintenance costs, compared to standard heating systems, while offering competitive kWh/price, with lower volatility compared to fossil fuels. Society also benefits from reduced dependence on fossil fuels and the need to import fossil fuels.
Centralised energy production from 31,500 tonnes/year of pellets leads to a significant increase in energy efficiency (23,200 MWh/year) and a decrease in primary energy demand. 1.13 million tonnes of CO2e emissions are avoided.
Inadequate treatment and conversion of biomass can lead to harmful pollution, such as particulate emissions. However, the installation of gas cleaning systems considerably limits these emissions.
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