STRENGHTENING THE OFFER OF RENEWABLE ENERGY THROUGH SPECIALIZED ENERGY CROPS

[vittorio.simoncelliParticipant]

STRENGHTENING THE OFFER OF RENEWABLE ENERGY THROUGH SPECIALIZED ENERGY CROPS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE REUSE OF TREATED WASTEWATER: REFLECTIONS ON THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM

The energy sector is one of the major concerns of this century. The continuous increase in global energy demand, the limited fossil reserves and the need to reduce the relation energy/greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) have sparked a growing interest in renewable energy.
In the renewable energy sources (RES) field, biomasses, perhaps, represent the most tangible growth factor linked to the green economy, which tends to combine the return on investment with positive effects in terms of regional coverage, sustainable management of agroforestry resources, creation of new entrepreneurship in the territory, etc.
In the case of rural area, especially the region with a marked Mediterranean climate, we are witnessing a phenomenon of widespread abandonment of marginal agricultural areas, mainly determined by the low return on investment in agriculture, which does not allow an adequate remuneration of the factors of production employed. I.e. In the case of Basilicata region, the agricultural dynamic, emerging from the Census of Agriculture (ISTAT, 2000, 2010), shows a significant reduction of farms (-36%, from 81,448 in 2000 to 51,756 in 2010) combined with the contraction of over 20,000 hectares of Utilized Agricultural Area, mainly annual dry crops. From the above factors, it results a considerable availability of unexploited land, plausibly fit to host bio-energy crops.
With the aim of expressing potentialities not analysed so far, a starting point lies in evaluating the potential of the regional territory to host energy production micro – districts that make use of wastewater to supply short rotation forest (SRF) specialized in the biomasses production.
The strength of this innovative project at regional level is, therefore, the combination of woody biomass production for energy use and from dedicated plantations (SRF), combined with the re-use of treated domestic sewage. This solution, reproducible for any operating depuration plants, represents a management model that can increase the production of biomass, promoting the production of renewable energy, increase the diversification of agricultural activities, enable new specialized companies, involve territories now abandoned from agricultural farms with positive environmental and social impacts. All this in a sustainable way, by reducing the cost of wastewater treatment, maintaining soil fertility, preventing the percolation into the groundwater of potentially polluting compounds, and stabilizing the biomass productivity.
The first results of the analysis carried out in the regional context guarantee good operating margins, both from the economic point of view (return periods of between 4 and 8 years), social (it is estimated that on average 2 working days per hectare are required for these productions; nevertheless, this figure considerably varies depending on the crop used) and environmental (it has in fact been estimated that the production of one hectare of biomass allows to save from 11 to 19 tons of oil equivalent per hectare, every year – the gap is determined by the adopted conversion technology).
A very significant element concerns the transmission of knowledge of the bioenergy sector to the entrepreneurial and local agricultural tissue. It is believed that one of the essential conditions for the success of the proposal goes through a process of training / information of the actors involved, along with a process of public awareness, through training and public debates.
Finally, it is essential the co-operation and the knowledge sharing with other European countries bordering the Mediterranean area, in the framework of international research projects.

DURATION
The proposal is divided into 3 modules (Studying, Testing and Capitalizing), which can be proposed individually or jointly. The maximum duration is respectively 18, 30, and 18 months, starting from September 2016. If we decide to implement multi-module projects the duration varies from 36 to 48 months, depending on how many modules are planned in the project (2 or 3).

CONTACT DETAILS:
Prof. Severino Romano
Direttore della
Scuola di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali, Alimentari e Ambientali – SAFE
Università Degli Studi della Basilicata
Tel. +39 0971 205409
email severino.romano@unibas.it

[Pilar De la Torre García-Pelayo]

We are very interested in fostering the awareness of the importance of bionergy in agriculture as we have a huge territory devoted to this activity. We could contribute to get biomass energy from the debris from pruning the vines of our internationally famous Sherry wine for example. We are also interested in wastewater treatment and in fact, we are already using a truck with a ‘Recycling’ system that allows the use of wastewater for cleaning, which means a saving of 10 million per year of liters of drinking water.

Unfortunately, we have one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, which converts us in a perfect pilot area for almost any project.

We have worked in European projects and Initiatives for more than 20 years now, so we are very used to executing, certifying, evaluating and disseminating transnational projects.

If you are still looking for a Spanish partner, please bear us in mind.

Yours faithfully,

Pilar de la Torre
European Projects office of Jerez City Council (Cádiz).

[Chris Camilleri]

Dear Colleague,
I am writing to you on behalf of MCAST – University College, Malta and I would like to express our interest for a possible partnership in the proposed project, “Strengthening the offer of Renewable Energy Through Specialized Energy Crops”. This project is of particular interest primarily because MCAST’s scientific knowledge is consolidated into areas that are tackled in the proposed project namely Biomass technology, water quality & efficiency and engineering.

The Institute of Applied Sciences within MCAST, has an established the Water Research & Training Centre, through which programs in water studies are offered, and projects such as Fowarim (H2020); Fostering Water-Agriculture Research and Innovation in Malta have been launched . The Institute of Applied Science also hosts personnel with decades of expertise in the water industry and worked closely with the International Water Association (IWA) for many years, with a range of research achievements and publications in local and international water conferences and journals. MCAST is a partner with the UK Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and with the International Water Association.

MCAST has also participated in EU Interreg Italia-Malta 2007-2013 Project, whose aim was to create a center for environmental sustainability and for renewable sources and disseminate to the general public a demonstration of the capabilities of biomass technologies. Through this project, MCAST has procured and installed a small scale Biomass Plant with remote monitoring.

If you are looking for a partner from Malta, kindly do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Chris Camilleri
MCAST – University College
Malta

[Kostis TerzisParticipant]

Dear Vittorio,
Representing the Municipality of Skyros Island (www.skyros.gr), Greece, as its technical consultant and EU programs responsible person, I hereby inform you about our interest in your project.
Skyros island is 40% covered by pine tree forests. Our municipality is the owner of almost 90% of this forest (6.845he) and also responsible for the forest administration. One of our main policies focus on action plans which could facilitate our forest economy in a sustainable way. In this direction, we are examining the case of the installation of a 100kW woodchip gasification power plant which would utilise forest waste from the forest administration.
Additionally, there is a possibility on using the wastewater output from our two WWT facilities for agricultural purposes.
Overall, I believe your proposal has an excellent match with the profile of our island. In case there is mutual interest from your side, please contact me at kosterzis@mese.gr.
Regards,
Kostis

[Author]

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