To tackle the complexity of the transition to a climate-neutral EU, the European Commission has launched the Clean Energy Technology Observatory (CETO). CETO monitors EU research and innovation activities in clean energy technologies. It publishes a series of annual reports for different clean energy technologies on technology maturity, development trends, value chain analysis, global market positioning and clean technology system integration.
In November 2024, CETO published a new set of reports, including reports on bioenergy, advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin.
Bioenergy in the European Union
Link: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC139331
The report provides a detailed examination of the bioenergy sector within the European Union, highlighting its significance in the global context and its role in the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
Key conclusions:
- Bioenergy is one of the pivotal elements in the EU strategy to decarbonise the economy, enhance energy security, and promote sustainable development. The EU has established itself as a global leader in bioenergy production, with substantial contributions from solid biomass, biogas, and liquid biofuels. In 2022, bioenergy accounted for 47% of the EU’s renewable energy supply, underscoring its critical role in the renewable energy mix.
- The availability of sustainable biomass is a key factor in the successful deployment of bioenergy technologies. Biomass is derived from various sources, including energy crops, agricultural and forestry residues, organic waste from households and industry, and algae.
- Bioenergy technologies are versatile and available at various scales, from small to large, allowing for substantial contributions to energy diversification and security. This reduces dependency on fossil fuels. Technologies such as anaerobic digestion and biomass upgrading have reached commercial scale (TRL 9), while other processes like pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal liquefaction range from pilot scale (TRL 5) to pre-commercial (TRL 7).
- Despite these strengths, the bioenergy sector faces several challenges. Competition with alternative uses of feedstocks and land, complex and costly logistics for collection, transport, and storage, and the economic viability that depends on the availability of low-cost feedstock are significant issues. Small-scale combustion in residential areas can significantly impact air quality. Intensified management practices may negatively affect ecosystems and biodiversity. The EU’s trade balance for bioenergy feedstock has been trending increasingly negative, indicating a growing dependency on imports.
- To address these challenges, the EU strongly promotes further research to improve the economic and environmental performance of bioenergy technologies, ensuring their reliability and long-term operation. Continued investment in research, development, and demonstration projects is essential to advancing bioenergy technologies and achieving the EU’s energy and climate targets. Research can help develop new processes, improve existing ones, and explore innovative applications of bioenergy, contributing to the overall sustainability and competitiveness of the sector.
- Bioenergy is one of the cornerstones of the EU’s strategy to achieve a low-carbon economy and enhance energy security. The EU must navigate the identified challenges to fully realise the potential of bioenergy in contributing to a sustainable and diversified energy future. Continued investment in research, development, and demonstration projects, along with strong collaboration networks within the EU, will be crucial for the continued development and success of the bioenergy sector.
Advanced Biofuels in the European Union
Link: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC139335
This report provides a detailed examination of the biofuel sector and advanced biofuel sector within the European Union (EU), focusing on its economic, environmental, and technological dimensions.
Key conclusions:
- The EU has been actively promoting the production and use of biofuels as part of its strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy security. The Renewable Energy Directive sets out sustainability criteria and defines advanced biofuels to mitigate negative impacts on land use and biodiversity. The directive favors certain feedstock categories for the production of advanced biofuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).
- The use of ‘advanced’ biofuels, made from feedstocks listed in Annex IX of the Renewable Energy Directive, has been increasing in recent years, reaching more than 2 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2022, accounting for around 16% of total biofuel consumption.
- The biofuel sector is a significant economic driver within the EU, contributing substantially to GDP and generating employment. The biofuel consumption in the EU transport sector increased from 19 million litres in 2015 to over 25 million litres in 2022, with biodiesel having around 70% of the share. The biofuels sector has been a significant contributor to employment within the EU, generating both direct and indirect jobs across various segments of the industry. Efforts are being made to facilitate the transition of skilled workers from the fossil fuel industry to the biofuels sector, ensuring that expertise is retained and utilised effectively. Additionally, the EU is working to make biorefineries more attractive to workers, despite their rural locations.
- The EU’s CETO 2024 Scenario projects that biofuels consumption will increase from around 21 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2025 to 57 Mtoe in 2050. The production of advanced biofuels is expected to progressively increase towards 2050, while the production of biofuels from food and feed crops will provide progressively minor contributions.
Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin in the European Union
Link: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC139422
This report investigates the status and trend of Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO), except hydrogen, which are needed to cover part of the EU’s demand for renewable fuels in the coming years. The use of RFNBO is crucial in the transition period towards the electrification for the hard-to-abate sectors and their ability to be used in the existing fuel infrastructures, so many funding programmes are today available.
Key conclusions:
- RFNBO are synthetic, gaseous or liquid fuels derived from renewable energy and renewable hydrogen, CO2 or N2. They can play an important role for ensuring security of energy supply and the decarbonization of transport services that cannot be electrified (maritime, aviation and road transports as heavy-duty vehicles).
- RFNBO production depends on several technologies along the whole value chain that include hydrogen production, carbon capture (or nitrogen separation) and fuel synthesis. Large-scale deployment remains still limited and significant challenges remain, primarily due to high costs, high energy requirements and the need for robust infrastructure. Significant investment and innovation are needed to scale-up the technologies for widespread commercial use and cost competitiveness. A combination of policy incentives, technological advancements, and scaling efforts will be critical for RFNBOs to reach their full market potential.
- On the other hand, the opportunities offered by RFNBO are the creation of new value chains based on renewable hydrogen supply and carbon capture, the use of the existing fuel infrastructures for fuel distribution and use (since liquid and gaseous RFNBOs are mostly drop-in fuels, except alcohols), and the possibility to integrate biobased value chains for CO2 recovery.
- The production of RFNBO will depend on the availability of excess renewable electricity and its price when available. The high energy-intensive nature of RFNBO production means that scaling the technology will require massive investments in renewable energy. Other challenges for RFNBO market uptake include all the techno-economic aspects related to the limited capacity of the renewable electricity distribution grid to integrate renewable electricity generation. Moreover, the slow-growing carbon capture solutions for providing (or capture) CO2 (fossil-based CO2 limited from 2041) or N2, the constraints in coupling such systems in providing stable operation, other competing markets (e.g. fertilizers) and the environmental aspects (level of GHG emissions savings) are still aspects to address.
