In 2015, energy companies and environmental organisations signed the Biomass Sustainability Covenant (hereinafter: the Covenant). The Covenant concerns the sustainability of subsidised biomass used for co-firing in coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands. The Covenant also stipulates that an independent party reports annually on the efforts made and the results achieved.
This report describes the efforts made and results achieved in the year 2024 regarding the use of biomass and compliance with sustainability requirements. The data in this report was provided by the energy companies. The energy companies submitted confidential detailed data at the delivery level. Due to competition regulations, this data is presented in aggregated form in this report.
Biomass usage
In 2024, a total of 1,583,259 tonnes of biomass was used for co-firing in coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands. This represents a decrease of 11% compared to 2023. Of the biomass used in 2024, 98.1% by mass consisted of wood pellets. The total biomass used for co-firing in 2024 consisted entirely (100% by mass) of biogenic residual and waste streams (Category 5). In 2024, the largest share of the biomass used originated from North America (63.7%). More than a quarter came from Asia (28.7%), and 7.6% came from European Union member states.
Compliance with sustainability requirements
In 2024, the statutory sustainability requirements were 100% met, according to the RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) overview of compliance. Since no Category 1 or 2 biomass (wood from forests) was used, the non-statutory requirements did not apply.