Promotion of Ukrainian sustainable biomass

Biomass is a growing market in the Ukraine, as it appeared during the 7th International Conference on Biomass for Energy, held in Kiev, Ukraine, on 20-21 September 2011. Among renewable energy sources biomass is one of the most promising energy sources. With a production of 800 kton in 2011 and an expected growth of 50% in 2012, wood pellets are the largest part of the biomass market.

Kees Kwant of NL Agency was part of the organizing committee of this conference. He organized, together with the  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the workshop 'Certification of Sustainable biomass', to introduce European schemes for sustainability certification to interested Ukrainian companies. Kwant: "It became clear that companies are not ready yet to implement sustainability criteria for their biomass. Furthermore, the Ukrainian government has not yet implemented the necessary guidelines. However, the potential is high. NL Agency will keep supporting interested parties in the Ukraine and Dutch companies to work together."

Especially for organisations that want to familiarize with the sustainability criteria of NTA 8080, a one-day training was organized by the Dutch normalisation institute (NEN).

More information on the results of the Sustainable Biomass Import fund in the Ukraine.