Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Holidays
just go by way too quickly… Soon after my short break in Thuringia, Germany, I was asked to join a colleague of
mine on his business trip to Slovakia. Instead of exploring the sights of
the country’s capital, such as Bratislava Castle or the Primatial Palace, we were more interested in
visiting a biomass plant.
In line
with EU norms and increasing costs for fossil fuels, such as coal, Slovakia’s attention to energy supply and
consumption recently shifted from coal-based energy towards bio fuels such as
biomass. Today, the share of biomass in the annual consumption of primary
energy sources in Slovakia ranges between 1.0 and 1.5 percent.
It is not rocket science to find out what type of biomass is used if one
considers that more than 40 percent of the Slovak territory is covered by
forests. Logically, the use of wood as an energy carrier in biomass plants
seems like a viable option.
However, as
prices for wood are gradually going up, several municipalities in the country
have become fed up with their dependency upon fluctuating resource prices and
have decided to focus on the use and production of refuse derived fuels (RDF) from
waste. Subsequently, ideas were collected, experts were consulted and a final
plan was developed in to achieve this goal. In line with this plan, three new
RDF plants are proposed to be built and two existing biomass plants are scheduled
to be retrofitted in order to become suitable for the use of RDF generated by a
plant which will be supplied by a plant manufacturer from Germany. If this project is realised
successfully, it will not only save money but also many trees. Touch wood.
