Poland's climate ministry has published new rules on energy wood that will allow utilities to keep burning sawmill chips, but sources suggest those and other proposed rules could lead to higher pellet prices.
The regulation published on 6 June is scheduled to take effect on 7 September. The new rules, although somewhat vague, could benefit biomass-fired generation, Polish utilities said.
The regulation might also support energy wood feedstock prices, sources suggested.
"The energy sector successfully lobbied for sawmill chips to remain an energy feedstock," one source at a Polish utility said. Wood processing industries had hoped that stricter regulations would further limit wood feedstock that can be burned for energy.
The energy wood regulation will not apply to premium pellets used by households. But that type of biomass could be affected by another bill on solid fuels, on which the Polish climate ministry launched a consultation earlier this month.
Polish wood pellet lobby group Polska Rada Pelletu welcomed the bill regulating the quality of pellets and other solid fuels, but said it might contribute to higher production costs in Poland.
The bill could come into force by the end of this year, Polska Rada Pelletu vice-president Agnieszka Kedziora-Urbanowicz said at a conference last week in Katowice.
Polska Rada Pelletu has predicted that greater use by energy firms and households could double Poland's overall pellet consumption in the next few years to 4mn t/yr and require the country to import about 1mn t/yr. Some industry representatives have said that outlook appears optimistic.
