The ill effects of the nuclear power plants have created a furor in the past decade, resulting in some extreme steps taken by one of the developed nations of the world. It is evident through the acute measure taken by Japan that the country is still bearing the impact of the damage and challenges brought by the Fukushima natural disaster in 2011. Japan has since then shut down its fifty nuclear power plants, as a result of the safety drive across the nation. But this wasn’t the end as hence began the rapid development of biomass power generation.
This new trend of biomass power production and thus the demand for biomass power pellets have created a desperate uproar among the investors. Everyone is willing to invest in this new goldmine development. The biomass pellet, also known as the biomass fuels are made from the organic matter. The five basic categories by which the biomass fuel is generated are namely wood waste, agricultural residue, raw or virgin wood, industrial wastes and the energy crops.
The biomass fuel is a new methodology as it is produced by direct burning so as to produce the cleanest form of the fuel. It is also as a result of the increased use of the fossil fuels in the past decades which resulted in various kind of environmental harm and the awareness of people regarding the positive aspects of the renewable resources which resulted in the sudden fame of biomass fuel.
(source: https://blog.forest2market.com/)
In the recent International Biomass Expo held in Tokyo, it was evident that there is a great scope for the investors in Japan and an immense possibility to begin the Biomass pellet plants. The best part about the country is that owing to a large forest area or sprawling green acres, there is a huge scope of renewable fuel source as well as setting up of the biomass plant.
The most common pellets used is the wood as it is easily generated from the sawdust and is thus the most available source of biomass power. Apart from this, the other fuel sources used are the local forest thinned wood and the palm kernel shells. The harmful emissions such as volatile organic compounds that formed as a result of the burning of non-renewable resources are now a passé. The use of the renewable resources has served to avail the world with a cleaner environment. It has also greatly helped in bringing about a global climate change. Ranging from the domestic biomass power plants to the power plants serving to distribute electricity at a larger level, a number of wood pellet plant projects have unfurled recently in Japan.
Besides, investors in Phillipines also utilize local giant grass to make fuel pellets and will export to Japan.
It is obvious that such a huge change is bound to attract a number of investors. It has noticeably become the greatest market drivers in the industry currently. The initial phase of the biomass power introduction was not easy though. It called for some luring tactics such as the introduction of the feed-in tariff system. Since then, it has been recorded that the renewable energy’s share has increased to 15% from the initial 10% when it was just introduced post the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Owing to Japan being the highest consumer of the energy resources, it has been the largest importer of fossil fuels for the thermal power production, which of course changed after the much discussed disaster.
Japan has been named as the fifth largest biomass industry in the recent survey owing to the flooding investors in the same. It is estimated that by 2030, the biomass pellet will have nearly 20% of the government incentives for the replenishable resources of energy. A long term supply of the wood is being sought by multiple traders and refineries. Government has introduced the start-up grants to the biomass power producers, which is a step to attract as many producers as possible. Also, policies have been introduced to provide assistance for the acquiring of domestic biomass power market. Japan is known to have a large amount of unused timber in its kitty. Followed by the discussed efforts, more than 80 new biomass power projects have won the government approval. The recently launched Biomass pallets in Japan are the big names of Marubeni Corp, Sumitomo Corp, Mitsui and Co. while many more plants are preparing for a launch in the coming years.
It is undoubtedly an immense effort being put by Japan to not only be the producer and user of this power but also encourage the other nations to take on the same path by setting itself as a huge example. No wonder, with its splendid Government policies and technologically effective ways of luring better ways of energy production, the country will soon emerge as the largest producer of the Biomass Pellet.
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