Energy flow survey of Ljusdals municipality

Abstract: The aim of this project is to make an energy flow survey of Ljusdal’s municipality. The reason for the energy flow survey is to discover possibilities to utilize and refine the energy resources locally, and use the information from this survey as a base for further discussions about the energy situation in Ljusdal’s municipality. As it is today the raw material is transported to other municipalities for processing and then bought back, e.g. biomass is transported to other municipalities where they make pellets which are sold back to consumers in Ljusdal’s municipality. A local upgrading of the raw material will probably create more job opportunities in the municipality and it will probably also lead to a higher profit than just selling the raw material. The target groups for this study are the local (and regional) politicians and entrepreneurs, primarily in Ljusdal but also in other similar municipalities. Mainly bioenergy is handled in this thesis. Other energy sources e.g. hydroelectricity is handled just briefly, flows and use of electricity are described briefly for different parts of the municipality and types of consumers. To perform the energy flow survey, information about now used, and possible future, energy resources was collected in order to find out the energy quantities used per year, for different users, and the energy flows. Unexploited energy sources, and energy sources that have the potential to be increased, like forest and arable land was also included. Investigations about the wind potential are also carried out. The energy use of the consumers, divided into energy carriers, is mapped. Larger companies and institutions, particularly those with energy related business are asked about their future plans. Energy suppliers are also asked where they buy and sell energy in order to make an energy flow survey. The energy needs for different types of buildings were also considered in this energy flow survey. In order to do that, information about the numbers of buildings in the municipality and also the average energy usage, for different types of buildings e.g. apartments and single family houses, are collected from different sources. The flows of bioenergy across the municipality border are also investigated in order to be able to see where it comes from and where it goes. Nearby municipalities, projects nearby Ljusdal’s municipality, that may have an impact in the field of energy in Ljusdal’s municipality are also briefly handled. The energy flows, in and out of the municipality, were put into maps from the municipality’s Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to get a good overview of the energy flow, supply and use. Based on the gathered information, project ideas are suggested, and calculations are done to determine if biogas production, from household waste and sludge, could be a better option than today’s waste management where the waste is being transported to a nearby municipality for incineration, a service that Ljusdal’s municipality also have to pay for. The results from the calculations show that the total amount of energy that could be extracted from the annual produced biogas would reach about 1.9 GWh. The biogas could e.g.be used as a fuel in the district heating plants in the municipality. By using locally produced products a decreased import of energy carriers, e.g. light fuel oil, would be expected. The conclusions that could be drawn from this study are that a lot of biomass is produced in Ljusdal’s municipality, which is mainly exported in the form as raw material. Large amounts of hydroelectricity is produced in Ljusdal’s municipality, about 60% of the electricity is being exported. Wind mappings show that there are some areas of national interest for electricity production through wind power in the municipality. A deregulated European electricity market will probably lead to an increased electricity price, this in combination with the green certificate would lead to a more profitable electricity production through wind power and areas that are not of national interest at present could probably be of national interest in the future. There are also a large potential to increase the amount of biomass from the forestry remainings. Another potential energy source is the arable land where it probably would be possible to grow e.g. hemp for an energy conversion purpose. In Ljusdal’s municipality, there are possibilities in the field of energy which no one takes advantage of at present.