Renewable energies are one of the cornerstones of the energy transition. The focus is on expanding energy production from these renewable sources in order to counteract climate change. For this purpose, the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) was adopted in 2009. This was intended to compensate for the previous financial and structural subsidies and advantages for conventional energies. At the end of 2018, this directive was amended and replaced by the new Directive (EU) 2018/2001 or RED II (Renewable Energy Directive II). The directive contains a common strategy in the EU to promote the sustainable generation of electricity, heating and cooling. With RED II, agreement was also reached on common sustainability criteria and supply chain requirements at EU level, which are now available as a draft and a stakeholder consultation is still pending.
How does this affect us? One of the biggest changes under RED II is the inclusion of forestry biomass and solid biofuels for electricity and heat production. The following multitude of requirements and criteria for sustainable biomass, including supply chain verification, can only be represented by monitored and independent systems. This means that power plant operators and their suppliers will be subject to even greater certification obligations. Initially, this will only affect large power plants with a total thermal firing capacity of ≥ 20 MW, but also their entire supply chain. The agreed conditions must now be established in national law by each EU member state. This poses a huge task for some countries. This means that very different preparations are necessary. In any case, the primary goal is to create uniform criteria that define the use of renewable energies or biomass and their sustainability.
Sustainability is thus becoming one of the most important factors in the biomass sector and demands some rethinking. New challenges are emerging in biomass trade, but also exciting prospects. In addition, it can be assumed that new directives, such as RED III and IV, will follow quickly. Therefore, all market and industry participants should concern themselves with this topic. In order not to be surprised by the innovations, we have already dealt with them intensively and will continue to follow the developments extremely closely. Our claim as Brüning Group is to lead the way and prepare ourselves optimally for the upcoming changes – with the aim of having the best possible expertise on the market. Furthermore, we want to share this accumulated know-how with our business partners and support them in the implementation of the RED II criteria. This is because we want to involve all those affected and hope for a lively exchange so that we can master the demands placed on us together. In this context, we are planning, among other things, an information event on RED II to give interested business partners the opportunity to benefit from our expertise. We will announce further information as well as the exact dates and general conditions of the event in due time.
If you have any questions or are interested and would like to get in touch with us, please feel free to contact Hendrik Bauer, responsible for sustainability and certification.
Hendrik Bauer
+49 4293 7894-159
hendrik.bauer@bruening-group.de