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SPECIAL TUSCANY

Wood-Energy in Tuscany and the

Bioenergy Farm Project Antonio Faini, Gianfranco Nocentini Service “Promotion, testing and transfer of innovation” ARSIA

It is well-known that Tuscany is the region of Italy with the greatest forest cover with just over one million hectares. 76% are coppices principally represented by oak species, Turkey and Pubescent Oak, Sweet Chestnut and Beech. The main wood assortment is still today, as it was to an even greater extent in the past, firewood and then agricultural wood.

Italy

Woodland management for the production of wood for energy cannot ignore the principles of technical, economic and environmental sustainability.

For several of the region’s hill and mountain districts, firewood is very often a valid alternative to the fossil fuels currently used in heating.

Thus, in these areas it may be worthwhile promoting and providing incentives for the use of this renewable energy source to contribute to the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and to the creation or preservation of employment. The latter is strategic in ensuring the human presence necessary for the upkeep

and protection of environmentally sensitive areas.

Woodland management for the production of wood for energy (firewood or other wood assortments used for energy purposes) cannot of course ignore the principles of technical, economic and environmental sustainability. These principles are indispensable in guaranteeing the multipurpose nature of Tuscan woodlands which is important to the region for a rational use of the natural resources.

In this field ARSIA, acting in agreement with the region, is carrying out a series of projects concerning woodland wood-energy which involve the sustainable forest management of coppices and the development of the “wood” resource not only for valuable manufacturing and structural uses but also for energy.

ARSIA worked with public and private bodies to prepare the trade fair “LegnoEnergia Centro Italia” (Wood Energy Central Italy) which took place in Arezzo from 13 to 16 March 2003. It was the first trade fair in central Italy on the production, transformation, transport and energy use of wood.

ARSIA’s participation, particularly with regard to the demonstration initiatives and meetings, favoured the creation of working relationships with organisations operating in the wood-energy sector both on a European and national level and in particular with ITEBE (European Technical Institute for Wood Energy) and its Italian representative AIEL .

M. TERRADURA

To promote biomass for energy purposes, considering not only those from forestry activities but also those produced by agriculture, ARSIA is putting the Bioenergy Farm Project into practice within the framework of MiPAF’s National BioFuel Programme (PROBIO).

The project costing a total of 525,000 Euros, of which 463,000 is financed by MiPAF and 62,000 by the Region of Tuscany, aims to promote demonstrations and activities capable of stimulating the branch of bio-fuels and all its components.

From this point of view and having taken the trends of Community Agricultural Policy into consideration, the project aims to build at least one company or inter-company model of a “bioenergy farm” for Tuscan agriculture, with a high level of energy self-sufficiency.

The development of these new company situations, especially in hill WOOD ENERGY N.1 / 2003 8

and mountain areas where integration between agricultural and forest activities is stronger, can seriously contribute to the reduction in dependency on non-renewable energy sources, to the reduction in risks from the growing accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere and to the identification of new cultivation alternatives which are economically practicable and valid for farmers.

More specifically the project coordinated by ARSIA, and lasting three years (2001-2003), aims to pursue the following main objectives: - verify, in the ambit of the various Tuscan agricultural, terrain andclimatic environments, the real possibility of defining an agronomically sustainable productive organisation at a farm level aimed at the predominant production of agricultural and forest cultivations dedicated to energy; - demonstrate the organisational and technical feasibility, and the economic and environmental sustainability of a “Bioenergy Farm” company or inter-company system characterised by high energy selfsufficiency deriving from an ability to produce, gather, store, transform, market and use biomass as the main source of energy; - create new business opportunities in the agro-forest sector, especially for the gathering and transformation of agro-forest biomasses; - divulge and spread knowledge to farmers and operators in the sector on production, gathering, storing, transformation and energy use of biomass agro-forestry cultivations including demonstrations at various levels.

With these objectives the project is carrying out the following integrated and consequential actions: 1. A land survey is underway for the agricultural terrain and climatic characterisation of the region’s farmlands in order to evaluate their “vocation” level for the production of energy cultivations as well as an analysis of the already available know-how concerning the cultivation, gathering and storing of both herbaceous and ligneous “energy” species. The species involved in the project are fibre broomcorn, ditch reed, “miscanthuso”, poplar and robinia. The last two are cultivated under short rotation forestry; farming and forestry waste is also treated (fruit pruning, brushwood).

This stage is supplying essential technical and economic informa-

A. BRUNORI

SPECIAL TUSCANY

The Bioenergy Farm project started a land survey in Tuscany on the cultivation, gathering and storing of “energy” species.

tion for the perfecting of suitable cultivating systems for the various farms in Tuscany. Demonstration cultivation tests have already been planned and carried out on public and private farms in areas representing the region’s agriculture.

These are organised by the “S. Anna” Secondary School of Specialisation in Pisa.

2. A demonstration plant has been built in the E. Avanzi Interdepartmental Centre at the University of Pisa for the transformation of the various types of agro-forest biomasses into pellets. The pelletisation technology was supplied by the company EcoTre System of Florence, owners of the patented pelletisation system ETS‚. Trials are underway for the perfection of the plant and for the production and first quality test of the produced pellets produced.

3. With regard to energy uses for agro-forest biomasses in the form of pellets, woodchips or logs, several demonstration heating plants are being planned and built in the E. Avanzi Centre (PI), at Rincine in the Mountain Community of the Florentine Mountains (FI), on the Pietratonda Farm (Paganico – GR), “Il Cicalino” Farm (Massa Marittima – GR) and Grappi Farm (Pienza – SI).

The main characteristic of these heating plants will be their high level of innovation, especially with regard to heat efficiency, reliability, operating safety and control of polluting emissions. This stage was organised by the Agency with the help of an expert in the designing of agro-forest biomass-fired heating plants, 4. The project also provides for an evaluation of the economic sustainability (cost-benefits) of the Bioen-

ergy Farm system which is being carried out for the first time by the S. Anna School.

5. Activities for the diffusion of this technology are also planned including seminars, technical meetings, conducted tours, informative material and Web pages. The Bioenergy Farm project was itself officially presented in Pisa at the end of April 2002 during a one-day workshop on the activities of PROBIO. On 2 and 3 December 2002 a guided tour of mini-heating plants in Alto Adige was organised in collaboration with AIEL (Italian Association of Wood Energy). An informative notebook has been published by ARSIA dealing with the main themes from the wood-energy field and presented during the trade fair “LegnoEnergia Centro Italia” (Wood Energy Central Italy) in Arezzo from 13-16 March 2003.

Various public and private sector bodies are participating in the projects and have signed an agreement with ARSIA in order to carry out the projects in a coordinated and synergistic manner.

The project partners are the Region of Tuscany - ARSIA, which is also the coordinator, the “S. Anna” Secondary School of University Studies and Specialisation in Pisa, which coordinates the scientific side of things, the Montepaldi Farm of the University of Florence, the E. Avanzi Interdepartmental Centre of Agro-environmental Research at the University of Pisa, the company “EcoTre System s.r.l. – Servizi e Impianti Tecnologici Brevettati” of Florence, the Balducci Forest Industry of Buti (Pisa), the Professional Farm Organisations and several Tuscan farms.

WOOD ENERGY N.1 / 2003 9