Lantbruket som energiproducent : tekniska, ekonomiska och miljömässiga förutsättningar för fjärrvärmeproduktion med lokalt skogsbränsle

Abstract: A third party access to district heating networks has been proposed in Sweden, to increase the competition on the district heating market. Such third party access could create opportunities for the agricultural sector as an energy producer. This study describes the technical, economical and environmental prerequisites for a farmer cluster to build and run a heating plant, fueled with local wood fuel. The heating plant in the described scenario is 8 MW and will supply a village of 1000 houses, and is fueled with wood chips exclusively. Supplying a heating plant with fuel puts high demands on the logistics, since there need to be a continuous flow of fuel. In the scenario, wood residues from felling and thinning is stored in stacks in the forest, and a few times a year chipped and transported to a storage area at the heating plant. In the study, an estimation of the profitability has been made by estimating the cost of the investment, personnel, operating and maintenance costs and costs for the fuel and ash handling. Incomes have been estimated by average price for district heating in Sweden. The study estimates an outcome of 2.5 million SEK a year. The environmental aspects of the heating plant have been evaluated through a life cycle assessment, and compared to a reference scenario with heat production fueled with natural gas. The study found that there is a considerable decrease in greenhouse gas emissions when using wood fuel instead of natural gas, but there is a slight increase in the eutrophication and acidification potential.