Analysis
Analysis „Biomass processing in the area of eastern Slovakia, with regards to the preservation of natural forests“
The goal of the analysis was to draw attention to the use of dendromass in eastern Slovakia and the resulting risk for local forests and for woody plants growing outside of forests. Based on available information about the potential of dendromass sources in the Prešov and Košice regions, about dendromass production for energy purposes in Slovakia, and about the structure and capacities of energy dendromass consumers, we tried to point to the huge disparity between production and consumption of energy dendromass. This disparity leads directly to the endangerement of forests, as well as shoreside growths, windbreaks and other non-forest vegetation, that are the consequence of uncontrolled increasing of the consumption of dendromass. The result of the analysis was to describe the reasons, e.g. to find and name the reason that caused the processing of any woody vegetation into woodchip to be deemed profitable in recent years, and to possibly propose a solution.
The results of the analysis „Biomass processing in the area of eastern Slovakia, with regards to the preservation of natural forests“
Issue no. 1
The first issue is that under the label of dendromass, the up until now unused biotopes on the succession areas of meadows, aluvial spaces around rivers and streams, and line elements in the landscape, all began to be logged. This is despite the fact that thick growths of junipers, sloe bushes and rosehip bushes were significant hiding places for wolves and bears, because they provide these big predators with exceptionally quiet spaces, inaccessible to humans, suitable for wintering and for raising of young, which is a rarity anywhere else in Slovakia and probably even a unique situation within the entirety of Europe. Previously, these succession growths have been considered, along with the shoreside growths, to be economically unusable and were economically unused, for more than 60 years.
Issue no. 2
The second issue is the exceeding of capacity for dendromass sources on forested plots of land. On the level of the entirety of Slovakia, we estimate the consumption by existing and planned larger production facilities, for heat production and electric energy production via dendromass burning, to be 1,47 mil. metric tons of energy dendromass a year, in 2013/2014 alone. The total consumption of wood dendromass in Slovakia, after adding households and other consumers of dendromass into the equation, currently approaches around 3,8 mil. tons a year, which is not only in stark contrast with the extracted 1,3 mil. metric tons of energy-production biomass in Slovak forestry back in 2012, but also in stark contrast with the described potential of tree-extracted biomass useful for energy production use, at a level of 2,8 mil. metric tons.
These disproportions are even more clearly visible within the conditions of the Prešov and Košice region, where we acquired more detailed information. In the Prešov and Košice region, the total annual amount of usable wood biomass from all sources is altogether 530 000 metric tons, but the current annual consumption of dendromass in the Prešov and Košice region is roughly 1 mil. metric tons. The yearly deficit of dendromass usable for energy production use is thus some 470 000 metric tons, which accounts for as many as 47 % of the consumption. Such disproportional exceeding of capacities is caused by a non-coordinated procedure during the generating of concepts and plans (silvicultural, energy production, economic, developmental, environmental) on all levels and leads to the devastation of forests and other tree and scrub growths. The result is the lowering of the landscape’s ecological stability, the destruction of the biological diversity and the worsening of the environment for the human inhabitants. The best example we can provide, is that the real yearly logging rate in Slovakia’s forests has continuously exceeded the sustainable yearly logging quota already since 1995, on average by 20 %.
Issue no. 3
The third issue stemming from the exceeding of the capacities of forest dendromass sources is the usage of quality wood for energy production purposes. Regulation n. 390/2009, which regulates the usage of dendromass for energy production purposes, as well as the Slovak technical norms, both unambiguously define what wood, depending on its quality, can be used as an energy resource. As we state earlier on the example of the Prešov and Košice regions, the capacities of the entire territory are exceeded by as much as 470 000 metric tons of wood, which is currently being consumed for energy production. This dendromass therefore logically either does not originate within this territory, or must consist of higher quality wood, or wood from illegal logging.
Issue no. 4
The fourth issue is the incorrect subsidy policy of the state, which leads to uncontrolled usage of dendromass for energy production purposes. The incomprehensibly generous subsidies had pushed up the price of forest-extracted wood chips to around 58 €/t, which made the processing of any forms of wood economically interesting. The bad price settings are obvious on the example of the BIOENERGY Bardejov case study, where as we note, the financial support provided by the state covers all the expenses for this company’s purchasing of dendromass. The subsidies thus create conditions which lead to deformations in the energy market and, simultaneously, raise the price of electric energy for consumers.
The state annually pays roughly 11 mil. EUR in subsidies for dendromass electric energy production, in the Prešov and Košice regions alone. However, the subsidies supporting the use of dendromass for energy production were also provided from EU funds. In total, from 2004 to 2012, almost 56 mil. EUR from the state budget and from EU funds have been invested in support of dendromass use for energy production in the Prešov and Košice regions (the sum, converted into Slovak crowns, is 1,7 billion).