SEC Biomass experts Tetiana Zheliezna, Oleksandra Tryboi and Olha Haidai took part in the second BIOPLAT-EU (Promoting Sustainable Use of Underutilized Lands for Bioenergy Production through a Web-Based Platform for Europe) project meeting that was held in Kyiv on 26 of September, 2019. The project partners presented the implementation of the project objectives and discussed plans for the next half of the project year.
Preliminary results on the data collection of marginal, underutilized and contaminated (MUC) lands in project countries are currently involved in the creation of a reference kit for further identification of MUC lands in the case study countries. In Ukraine, more than 5000 hectares of MUC lands has been identified in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Kherson, Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy regions (oblasts).
Due to the significant differences in EU and national legislation on maximum levels of heavy metals in soil, it was decided to be guided by national legislation and, in the absence of such national data, not to include contaminated lands in these countries.
During the meeting, partners from the target countries where the pilot studies will be conducted (Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and Spain) presented the selection results of potential regions for the bioenergy projects implementation. Until October 31, 2019, the selection of innovative bioenergy projects on MUC lands is carried out. An impact assessment, a feasibility study and financial models for funding will be developed for selected bioenergy investment projects.
The BIOPLAT-EU web platform is currently under development, which will include a database of MUC lands and a tool for sustainability assessment of bioenergy projects implemented using such lands. In addition to MUC lands, the map will also contain information on recommended energy crops that, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), can be grown on these lands in accordance with their natural and climatic characteristics. Bioenergy installations, on which biomass raw materials can be supplied (boiler houses, CHP, biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel plants, briquette / pellet production lines) will be also presented on web platform.
Introductory video of the BIOPLAT-EU project:
Project information booklet: