ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN TRENDS OF BIOENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

Purpose of the paper is to analyze main trends of bioenergy development in the EU, identify successful examples and existing problems and also to suggest some recommendations on implementing the best European practices in Ukraine’s bioenergy sector. State of the art and prospects for the development of bioenergy in the EU-28 until 2030 are presented. It is shown that bioenergy is an important part of European Union’s energy sector and the biggest contributor to renewable energy production. The EU is getting on quite well with achieving its RES 2020 targets set by the Directive 2009/28/EС. By now at least ten counties have already attained their obligatory share of renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption. According to expert estimation, under further pursuing of the favourable policy, the present share of RES in EU’s energy consumption may double and reach about 34% in 2030. Main features of bioenergy part in different EU’s energy production and consumption sectors are analyzed. Traditionally, in the EU, biomass contributes mostly to heat production and its leading part among other RES in the sector is expected to remain beyond 2020. The situation in Ukraine is in line with this trend. The difference is that in the EU most part of heat is produced combined with power, and in Ukraine there are few biomass CHP plants. Besides, power production from biomass is behind other RES in Ukraine in contrast with the EU. Based on the main trends existing in the EU, one can recommend the priority development of biomass CHP to Ukraine and also some higher contribution of biomass to power production compared with other RES. In addition it is suggested that Ukraine should pay more attention to the production and consumption of second generation biofuels and implementation of sustainability criteria in the bioenergy sector.