The transition of the global energy system into one with a low carbon footprint requires many different efforts. In 2015, the share of renewable energy in global primary energy consumption was only 13.4%1. Of the different primary energy sources, biogenic raw materials and residues are the most important with a share of 70.7%.
The global growth rates in the third millennium, however, show a different picture. Here photovoltaics, wind power, biogas, solar thermal and liquid biofuels with annual growth rates of 45-10% are the dominant technologies. Continuing these growth rates will inevitably lead to imbalances in the energy systems. Above all, power generation and consumption do not occur simultaneously and battery-powered storage systems do not provide an economically viable solution for seasonal storage. Biomass can make a decisive contribution to solving this non-simultaneity, as it represents a solar long-term storage.
Nonetheless, many efforts are still needed to successfully change the energy system in order to clarify economic, ecological, social and technical issues along this path.
The IEA Bioenergy Task xx - Bioflex will bring together a group of experts who have committed themselves to the overarching goal of energy system conversion, where bioenergy will play a major role. The above questions have to be clarified.
In the xx - Bioflex task, answers are sought to the following higher-level questions:
- Which realizable flexible bioenergy concepts are suitable to support the transformation of the energy system into one with a low carbon footprint?
- How can the implementation of these concepts be accelerated?
- What system requirements are needed to implement such energy concepts? Both technical and legislative framework conditions are considered.
The national work in the Task therefore aims to:
- Identification of market barriers in the implementation of flexible bioenergy
- Collection of information on global technological and political developments, analysis of these data and dissemination to national stakeholders
- Influencing national and international developments by involving industrial, scientific and political stakeholders
- Distributing the information obtained to as large a group of relevant industries as possible in order to adapt product and technology developments to changing conditions at an early stage and thus to exploit opportunities that arise
