Long Term Potentials and Costs of RES - Part II: The Role of International Biomass Trade

Abstract

This report investigated the impact of international transport on the total cost and greenhouse gas balance of solid woody biomass. For this purpose, a geospatial intermodal biomass transport model was developed in the ArcGIS 10.0 Network Analyst extension. This model has been complemented with data on the cost of shipment using road (truck), water (ocean ships and inland navigation ships) and rail and the cost of transhipment between these modalities. With respect to the methodology applied in this study, we conclude that the modelling tool developed for this study using the ArcGIS Network Analyst extension, provides useful insights in country-to-country cost of biomass distribution. The results will be used as input to the energy model GREEN-X to estimate future supply and demand of biomass without being limited to national biomass sources or distribution of international supply of biomass applied exogenously to the GREEN-X modelling framework. Furthermore, related GHG emissions of the total biomass supply chain provide insight in the GHG reduction performance and optimal use of biomass sources.