Renewable energy to boost the economy of the Spanish countryside

Agroforestry and livestock biomass

It is now possible to use the organic waste generated by agriculture, livestock, and forestry to produce energy in a renewable way. Its management and treatment can help revive the economy of the Spanish countryside.

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For Spain, which is highly dependent on foreign energy supplies, the production of electricity, heat, or biomethane from agroforestry and livestock biomass could be key to strengthening its strategic autonomy

Agustín Nieto owns a crane company in Socuéllamos (Ciudad Real), but he is not only dedicated to road transport; he also collects vines and vine shoots from vineyards throughout the province to take them to a plant that generates electricity from biomass in Puertollano. The case of this company, which in high season employs around fifteen people, is just one example of the potential that the use of agroforestry waste to generate energy can have for the economy and, in particular, for the Spanish countryside.

Thanks to technology, vines and vine shoots, wood from forestry work, livestock slurry, and crop residue have been transformed from waste to be disposed of into a source of renewable energy. Spain is the second largest agricultural country in the European Union and the third with the most wooded area, so it has abundant reserves of agroforestry and livestock biomass, which can be used to produce heat and electricity for the domestic sector and industry, but also biomethane and, in the near future, 100% renewable fuels for transport.

The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) defines biomass as the biodegradable fraction of products, residues, and waste of biological origin from agricultural activities, including substances of plant and animal origin, from forestry and related industries, including fishing and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of waste, including industrial and municipal waste of biological origin. According to the Spanish Association of Biomass Energy Valorization (AVEBIOM), which brings together more than 170 companies, technology centers, and universities in the sector, the management and use of this biomass represented just over 0.3% of GDP in 2022, with a turnover of more than 4.5 billion euros and 50,000 direct and indirect jobs created.

Types of biomass and their different uses

Biomass, a resource to revive rural areas

The organic waste generated by agroforestry activities can be a driver for wealth in the Spanish countryside.

A truck collecting biomass from a vineyard

Biomass from vineyards and forests for renewable energy generation

Vine pruning and forest management work, agroforestry activities that can be used for energy production

Despite its growing impact on the economy, the truth is that society is not yet aware of the important role that this sector can play. “Despite the fact that solar and wind energy are better known when we talk about renewables, the reality is that biomass is the major player in thermal generation, currently accounting for 70 to 80% in heating and industrial heat,” explains Daniel García, head of Projects and Innovation at AVEBIOM. “In addition, in contrast to the current trend of electrifying heat generation, biomass offers a fast and renewable solution, which allows for decoupling industries and households from the price of electricity and avoids overloading or saturating the electricity grid.”

Strengthening strategic autonomy

For a country like Spain, which is highly dependent on foreign energy supplies, the production of electricity, heat, or biomethane from agroforestry and livestock biomass could be key to strengthening its strategic autonomy.

Electricity generation is one of the main uses that the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) reserves for agroforestry biomass. Specifically, it proposes to increase the use of biomass in cogeneration plants to produce 1,408 MW by 2030, more than double what was generated ten years earlier. The residue from agricultural pruning (olive groves, vineyards) and forest biomass resulting from fire prevention will be responsible for a significant part of this increase.

The biomass sector in Spain

0.3%

of GDP generated by the sector

€4.5

billion

in revenue

50,000

direct or indirect

jobs

1,408MW

by 2030

as a target for biomass use in cogeneration plants

The organic waste generated by agriculture and livestock farming is also beginning to be used to generate biomethane, a renewable gas that is being injected into the current gas network and used as a substitute for natural gas in industries and homes. To transform this biomass collection and treatment plants must be built in the actual rural areas, close to the farms where it is generated. According to the Spanish Gas Association, Sedigas, there are currently a dozen plants in operation and more than 200 projects under development.

Agroforestry biomass can also be used as a raw material to produce liquid renewable fuels, which represent an alternative to reduce CO₂ emissions in transportation. “Obtaining them from the abundant biomass generated by the Spanish countryside is the future of renewable fuels,” explains Pedro Segovia, Biomass Business Development Manager at Repsol. This company has just started operations in Cartagena, the first large-scale 100% renewable fuels production plant on the Iberian Peninsula. It will use used cooking oil and waste fats as raw materials, “which are technically simpler to produce, but are a scarcer type of waste. When the technologies are ready, and some of them are already close, biomass will be a determining factor in their production, since Spain has an enormous amount of resources”.