Department of Biotechnologies, Agroindustry and Health protection

Italian National Agency for New Technologies,Energy and the Environment

ENEA’s activities for agroenergy development in Italy

Vito Pignatelli

vito.pignatelli@casaccia.enea.it

Energy use by source in Italy (2005)

Source: ENEA - Energy and Environment Report 2006

Natural gas36%

Coal9%

Imported electricity

5%

Oil products43%

Renewables7%

Total energy use: 197,8 Mtoe

Energy production from renewable energy sources in Italy (2005)

7.935

1.384

21 7515

3.558

343 172

1.501

0

1.000

2.000

3.000

4.000

5.000

6.000

7.000

8.000

9.000

10.000 Hydro

Geothermal

Solar

Photovoltaic

Wind

Wood and other biomass

Biogas

Liquid biofuels

Municipal wastes

Source: ENEA - Energy and Environment Report 2006

ktoe

Total energy use: 197,8 Mtoe

Agroenergy in Italy

• Domestic and district heating (wood and wood residues)

• Process heat (wood industries, distilleries etc.)

• Production of electricity (biomass, vegetable oils, biogas)

• Liquid biofuels for transport (biodiesel, bioethanol)

Electricity production from RES in Italy (2005)

Source: ENEA - Energy and Environment Report 2006

Geothermal11%

Photovoltaic0%

Hydro70%

Wind6%

Biomass, Biogas and MSW

13%

Raw materials for agroenergy production

End use Source

Residues Locally produced

energycrops

Import

Domestic & district heating ● ● ●

Process heating ●

Production of electricity from:- Wood and other biomass- Vegetable oils- Biogas

●

●

●●●

●●

Liquid biofuels ● ●

Italian biomass potential for energy use

Source: C.T.I. data - 2004

Year 2004:47 Mtoe d.m.

Wood and forest residues

13%

Crop residues28%

Energy crops42%

Agro-industrial residues

17%

Import of wood chips, fuel and residues

Source: FAO Forestry database - 2004

0

200.000

400.000

600.000

800.000

1.000.000

1.200.000

1.400.000

1.600.000

1.800.000

2.000.000

2.200.000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Cu

bic

Met

er

Chips and Particles Wood Fuel Wood Residues

Biodiesel production and market in Italy. Years 2002-2006

Source: European Biodiesel Board - 2007 / Assobiodiesel - 2006

tons 447.000

396.000

320.000

273.000

210.000 325.927

188.225298.526220.886

177.000

0

80.000

160.000

240.000

320.000

400.000

480.000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

ProducedSold

A “vision” of agroenergy systems

1. Crops choice and innovation

2. Technologies availability

3. Plant size identification

4. Targeting objectives by incentives selection

5. Main research options

Looking from the farming side…….

• Do not use cereal grainsAvoiding competition with food crops and researchfor new crop models

• Integration, not substitutionShort term: integration by annual crops / medium-long term: substitution on marginal lands, perennial crops

• Innovation for low-input cultivation techniquesNo or minimum tillage, low use of fertilizer, precision farming, no irrigation

ENEA activities for supporting agroenergy growth by:

• Performing feasibility studies of agroenergy chains and districts

• Developing support maps for energy policy planning and biomass land potential assessment

• Implementing GIS tools to support biomass exploitation projects

• Supporting Environmental Impact Assessment of bioelectricity power plants

“Valle dei Latini” agro-energy district:forest residues potential

ENEA main RTD activities for the development of agroenergy in Italy (1/4)

• Screening and evaluation of the productivity and duration of new crops suitable for energy and/or biofuel production, with the main objective of identifying the more promising species and varieties for marginal or abandoned lands in the climatic conditions of Southern Italy

ENEA main RTD activities for the development of agroenergy in Italy (2/4)

• Research and development of new technologies for the production of “second generation” liquid biofuels as, for example, ethanol by enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials

ENEA main RTD activities for the development of agroenergy in Italy (3/4)

• Development of medium (100 - 200 kWe) and small-scale (less than 20 kWe) gasifiers to produce electricity for local uses (farm, wood processing factories etc.)

• Research and development of innovative processes for the production of syngas or hydrogen by steam/oxygen gasification of biomass

ENEA main RTD activities for the development of agroenergy in Italy (4/4)

• Exploitation of microalgae for CO2 mitigation and biofuel production

CO2

Solar energySolar energy

BiodieselBiodiesel

HH22