Introduction to energy production
Blas MOLA-YUDEGO
Summary
Biomass is used for the production of energy in various forms, being the most common one in Northern Europe for the production of heat and electricity. The session reviews the concept of heat and energy production, describing the most common units used, and methods to estimate heat demand at various scales. The concept of district heating systems and their development in several countries is presented, linked to their limitations and advantaged. Also, small scale pellets boilers are presented, and the general heat production in Finland and Sweden is presented and analysed. Finally, the biomass needs of several bioenergy plants are presented and compared as case examples.
Objectives
The main objectives of this session are:
- To review main factors related to energy production
- To understand the main issues related to the establishment of district heating systems
- To review methods to assess heat demand for a large city or community or at a domestic level
- To discuss the role of district heating systems, particularly in Northern Europe
Tools
Forest Heat v2.0 [xls]
Forest Heat is a simple planning and decision support tool for wood-based heating systems created by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla). This supporting tool enables users to calculate the most crucial decision factors which are:
- the scaling of your wood-based heating system
- estimating costs of the fuel and investment
- identification of crucial factors needed to consider when making decisions
Materials
Slides [PDF]
Heat generation and heat demand [video]. What is heat? How is it produced on a bioenergy plant? How to estimate how much is needed? There are different ways to produce and distribute heat. The presentation reviews individual stoves as well as district heating. The main concepts related to heat generation are discussed, and some methods to estimate total heat demand are presented for a house or a region.
Producing heat out of wood [video]. The video shows the production of energy for heat and electricity using wood from sustainable management. The video is a production of Wenet: The Wenet Centre Project is coordinated by Joensuu Regional Development Company JOSEK Ltd, the Kajaani University Consortium, and the universities of applied sciences of North Karelia, Savonia and Mikkeli. The EU Regional Development Fund co-finances the project with regional councils and development companies in Eastern Finland as well as Wenet’s member companies.
The Hämeenkyrö bioenergy power plant [video]. This power plant is Pohjolan Voima’s fifteenth power plant project, and can serve as an example of how a bioenergy plant works and operates. The power plant uses logging residue and other wood-based fuels and replace natural gas-based energy production.
Additional materials
Readings:
Kavalov, B., & Peteves, S. D. (2004). Bioheat applications in the European Union: an analysis and perspective for 2010. EUR-OP. [PDF]
Roos, A., Graham, R. L., Hektor, B., & Rakos, C. (1999). Critical factors to bioenergy implementation. Biomass and Bioenergy, 17(2), 113-126. [PDF]
Tasks
Retrieve information about the heat and electricity production in your own city: what are the main sources of energy? How is the heat generated? How it is delivered?
Read the paper Roos et al, 1999, with special attention to the development of district heating systems (biomass district heating in Sweden and Austria). DIscuss and review a similar table for the implementation of districty heating in your province.
Calculate the heat consumption and the wood needed to heat your house. Check the Tools for assistance.