IEA Bioenergy Task 39, a group of international experts working to commercialize sustainable transportation biofuels featured an update on opportunities for biofuels in New Zealand. Source: Biomass magazine
Ian Suckling, a Task 39 New Zealand member and various other contributors authored a feature article on New Zealand.
New Zealand is a geographically- isolated country covering a land area of 269,190 square kilometers with a comparatively small population of 4.47 million.
According to the report, consumer energy demand in New Zealand last year was 573 peta joule, largely from oil – 44%, and electricity – 25%. There are also significant exports of unrefined crude oil, or 30% of total oil consumption, as these sweet crudes are not processed at New Zealand’s only oil refinery.
The article reports per-capita use of transportation fuels is relatively high due to the country’s low population density and the nature of the economy.
In 2014, 80% of New Zealand’s electricity was generated from renewable resources. The main contributor was hydropower at 57%, followed by geothermal at 16% and wind with 5%.
According to the report, New Zealand is on track to meet the country’s target of 90% renewable electricity by 2025.
The report reads, “Bioenergy, mainly as woody biomass, is used primarily in the wood processing sector as a source of process heat, but a portion is also burnt to heat private homes.”
The article in the newsletter discussed the country’s bioenergy feedstock options. “Wood from plantation forests is the largest biomass resource in New Zealand and also the one with the most potential to expand to allow largescale biofuels production,” the report said.
Existing biomass resources can only provide 6% of the country’s total transportation fuel demand, and purpose-grown feedstock would be required for high levels of biofuels implementation.
According to findings displayed in the report, New Zealand has the potential to supply all of its transportation fuel demand by 2030 from forests grown on lower productivity land.
The country has 9.2 million hectares (22.7 million acres) of hill country that is either marginal land or low-to-moderate productivity hill country grazing.
Converting 30% of this land to forests would be sufficient to meet demand, while still retaining land for food production, according to the report.
One last feedstock option is the country’s well-established plantation forest estate and wood processing industry—totaling approximately 1.73 million hectares, composed largely of radiate pine and Douglas fir.
New Zealand has established a bioenergy strategy to supply 25% of the country’s energy needs using bioenergy sources by 2040, including 30% transportation fuels.
Plantation forests are considered the main feedstock to meet goals in New Zealand’s bioenergy strategy, but biofuels from agricultural-sourced materials, algae and municipal and industrial process residues will also be important. Government support of biofuel implementation is limited, with neither a mandate nor any target for biofuel use in place.
