Potentials of domestic biomass resources for the energy transition in Switzerland

Description

Switzerland has a reliable and cost efficient energy system. Due to phase out of nuclear energy it is necessary to find new options to maintain this powerful energy system. The Swiss energy strategy 2050 aims to reduce CO2-emissions, increase efficiency and promote renewable energies. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) examined relevant woody and non-woody biomass quantities (cubic meters, fresh-, dry weight) and their energy potentials (in Petajoules: primary energy and biomethane) with a similar methodological approach. The work was done within the frame of the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER) especially in line with the SCCER Biomass for Swiss energy future (Biosweet). With a uniform and consistent approach for the current potentials ten biomass categories were estimated and aggregated for the whole of Switzerland. In this context solutions for the technical, social and political challenges are promoted. First, considering the different biomass resources characteristics and available data, appropriate methods at the finest scale possible were elaborated to estimate the annual quantities which could theoretically be collected (theoretical potential). Then, explicit and rational restrictions for sustainable bio-energy production were defined according to the current state of the art and subtracted from the theoretical potential to obtain the sustainable potential. The main restrictions are competing material utilizations, environmental factors and supply costs. Finally, the additional sustainable potential was estimated considering the current bioenergy production. Our main purpose was to provide potentials for developing conversion technologies as well as a detailed and comprehensive basis of the Swiss biomass potentials for energy use for economic and political decision makers. The complete report is available under https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/wsl/islandora/object/wsl%3A13277/datastream/PDF/view