What is REDII and who does it affect?
The European Commission, through the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 (Renewable Energy Directive II – RED II) has imposed sustainability criteria on energy from biomass used in plants of more than 20 MW (solid biomass ) and more 2 MW (gaseous biomass).
The update requires certification of all power plants (electric, heat or cold) with power greater than 20 MW for solid biomass and 2 MW for biogas, and all economic operators in their supply chains, that is, all companies. that collect, transform and distribute biomass to energy conversion plants.
What is the legislation like in Spain?
In Spain, the transposition to Spanish legislation was published on May 17 and the standard proposes a transition period with several milestones: Biomass plants of >20 thermal MW (solid biomass) or > 2MW thermal (biogas) had to acquire a commitment to accession through a certification system recognized by the European Commission before June 30, 2022; Before September 30, 2022, the plant should have been certified and before January 1, 2023, the entire upstream supply chain should be certified, that is, all the suppliers of these plants.
It is possible to establish an exception for small suppliers, the first step in the chain (forestry, agricultural, livestock owners) thanks to the fact that the transposition Royal Decree establishes that Spain is a low-risk area.
SURE
SURE is a certification system approved by the European Commission that serves to verify that companies meet the requirements imposed by the REDII in all EU countries. It is a system created by bioenergy associations (Bioenergy Europe is supported in several countries by national associations such as AVEBIOM in Spain) and tries to facilitate compliance with the aforementioned requirements as much as possible. It is a system that, thanks to its flexibility (it accepts any type of biomass, whether forestry or agricultural), is especially adapted to Spain, where we have several local biomasses that are not common in other countries (straw, pomace, olive pits, prunings, etc.). )
How is the implementation evolving?
In Spain, the majority of solid biomass consuming plants affected by the REDII (>20 MWt) have already been certified with SURE, with around 40 certificates issued. The rest of the certificates issued, around 200, correspond to different steps in the supply chain (collection companies, recovery companies and suppliers). Comparatively, we are at the same level as Germany, which has about 70 certified electricity plants.
Regarding biogas plants, we appreciate that the implementation in Spain is going with some delay since there are only two plants certified in SURE when it is estimated that in Spain there are more than twenty plants affected by the directive. In Germany, the SURE system is being preferred by biogas companies and there are already 1.694 plants that generate electricity with biogas certified with SURE.
AVEBIOM is the support organization for SURE in Spain
AVEBIOM is the Spanish Biomass Association, active since 2004. Among its members are the majority of large thermal and electrical generation companies and many companies in the supply chain.
AVEBIOM has been designated as the national support body for SURE in Spain, serving as a liaison with the central offices and advice on legal issues or other tasks that may require a local vision or overcome a language barrier.
Further information: sure@avebiom.org / 983 113 760
