Speech 30 May 2007
Maud Olofsson, Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Deputy Prime Minister

Speech at the Polish-Swedish Bioenergy Conference

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Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present my views on the use and development of bio energy systems and the markets for biofuels. And I must say that it feels good to speak about bioenergy this time of the year when we see how the nature is getting greener and all plants start to grow, forming new biomass. It seems like even people are getting more energy this time of the year.

But first of all I would like to acknowledge the
Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Poland and my colleague, minister Wozniak, for arranging this conference. It is an important initiative and it will be most interesting to share thoughts and perspectives on renewable energy. I would also like to thank the Institute for Fuels and Renewable Energy IPiEO, Warsaw, Poland, and the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics IIIEE in Lund, Sweden.

Climate change and the security of supply of energy are maybe the biggest challenges of our time. We need to address these challenges and in doing so we need to have a system persperspective

Promoting energy solutions that are truly resource and cost efficient is also one of the most fruitful ways to contribute to sustainable development. I believe that bioenenergy will play a crucial part.

Bioenergy in Sweden

In Sweden the development of renewable energy is formed in relation to our rich natural resources. Today renewable energy makes up 28% of our primary energy supply .

- Hydro power is of great importance and accounts for almost 50% of our electricity.

- But bioenenergy is the largest renewable energy source and it contributes to almost a fifth of the supply.

- Some 10 % of our bioenergy is recovered from wastes.

- Forests cover about 60 % of our land and besides the environmental, recreational and industrial benefits the forests give us they are our primary source of bio energy for heating and power production. The parts that are used for energy production are the residues that cannot be used in the industry.

- An important part of our system approach is to make use of the resources not demanded by industry and by the waste streams of society.

- Today agriculture only accounts for a few percent of our total bioenergy and about 2 percent of the Swedish agriculture land is used for energy. Even if energy production from agriculture is limited it is most likely that it will grow in importance.

- Another important source of renewable energy is Wind power. The interest for investing in new wind production capacity is growing strongly. Not only energy companies are investing but also traditional industries or private individuals.

Biofuels in the transport sector

A major challenge a head of us is reducing the oil dependence in the transport sector.

The use of biofuels for transport is currently small, but is the focus of considerable interest. Biofuels in Sweden are mostly ethanol. We have 5 % ethanol in all gasoline and an increasing fraction of E85.

Increasing the permitted level of ethanol blended in petrol is one step , but we should also make sure to develop long term solutions. If we shall reach the EU target of 10% biofuels by 2020 it is imperative to forcefully drive 2nd generation more efficient biofuel technologies into commercial and industrial reality.

How did we get there?

Why does Sweden have so much renewables and biomass in our energy system?

Besides our rich natural resources. The "Swedish model" has been policies and measures that are general in character; like price signals, for example introduced as energy and carbon taxation.

In 2003, a green electricity certificate system was put forward. I believe that you have a similar system in Poland and I think it would be interesting to share experiences from these support schemes.

Other important general measures include energy research and development and information to home owners and companies.

These steps have stimulated an introduction of bioenergy on commercial terms and have left the market players the opportunity to implement new solutions in a flexible and cost efficient way.

District heating

The development of markets for solid biofuels in Sweden has been very successful. In many ways thanks to our district heating infrastructure. Today, district heating accounts for about half of all space heating in Sweden.
This sector was almost completely dependent on imported fossil fuels, primarily oil in the 1970-ties. Today more than 2/3 of the fuel is biomass.

District heating is a key technology to the systems approach in Sweden. We have fifty years of experience in district heating and it has developed rapidly in Sweden. Today many of the Swedish district heating systems include co-generation plants, which further increases the overall system efficiency. In co-generation, heat from power generation, wasted in conventional thermal power plants, is used for district heating, increasing the overall efficiency.

I´ve learned that district heating infrastructures are well developed also in Poland and I know that the Swedish company Rindi operates biomass fuelled heating plants in the towns of Choinitse and Hajnowka. Our state owned energy company Vattenfall owns and operates the heating plants in Warsaw. Vattenfall also has advanced plans for coincinerating solid biofules in their coal fired units and also plans the construction of a new advanced facility dedicated to biofuel specifically.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen.

The Swedish government will continue our work to meet the challenges of climate and security of supply.
We strongly believe that the efforts needed to combat climate change do not have to be regarded as constraints on the economy. Instead, they can be used as a lever for new, green technology.

The Swedish policy aims to stimulate the creation and growth of innovative Clean Tech companies.
Swedish policy also aims at breaking the link between economical development and the increasing use of energy. We are among the countries that have clearly shown that economic growth is fully consistent with decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1990 our GNP has grown 35 %.At the same time our CO 2-emissions decreased 7 %.
in any policy for as sustainable future the agriculture and forestry sectors have a decisive role to play. These sectors have a new role in the future both for producing more renewable resources for industry purposes and reducing green house gazes.

However, the design of a truly clever energy system starts with reducing the energy demand. Sweden is fully committed to the European Union target to increase energy efficiency by 20 % until 2020. This is not an easy task, but we have intoduced a whole range of cost efficient measures, which all together can save a lot of energy.

The European Council recently adopted an Energy Action plan but the real challenge will be to put the solemn declarations into practice. In our countries, the climate and soils are comparable and the conditions for producing renewable energy are very good. This is a favourable point of departure when we shall meet the ambitious targets on renewable energy set out in the plan.

But to do so, and secure a sustainable future for our children and grand children, we need to meet across national borders, on occasions like the seminar today, to share information, thoughts and exchange experiences.

Thank you!