Wood Waste, Bagasse and Municipal Solid Waste to Remain Major Feedstocks

By mid-2014, wood waste was the most-used biopower feedstock, based on cumulative capacity. Around 32% of all biopower capacity used wood waste as their primary feedstock, as it is very widely available from a number of sources, such as timber businesses. Bagasse was the second most popular, with a 25.77% share, driven by sugarcane’s status as a major crop in India, Brazil and China, three of the largest biopower markets. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is also a universally available feedstock, was the third most popular at 16.72%. Landfill gas, wastewater and palm oil had smaller shares, while other feedstock materials contributed 17.25% of the biopower capacity.

Brazil and the UK had the Largest Solid Biomass Capacity Additions in 2013

In 2013, Brazil installed the largest biomass power capacity globally, with 1,730 Megawatts (MW), or 29.7% of the total for that year. The UK was a distant second at 12%, with an annual capacity addition of 641 MW. India, which has a large potential for biomass power, made a significant addition to its capacity with 500 MW, which equated to 10% of the global capacity addition. Thailand, Germany, China, Poland, and Italy followed, with 7.3%, 6.5%, 5%, 4.8% and 2.6% respectively. All other countries’ biomass power capacity additions accounted for the remaining 22% of the global annual capacity.