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Solid biofuel heating systems sector in Poland
Adam Nocoń President of the National Chamber of Commerce for Renewable Energy Devices, Entrepreneur, Scientist with a PhD in exact and natural sciences at the University of Silesia in Katowice
As an expert in biomass combustion, he is a co-author of numerous scientific papers and patents in the field of reducing dust emissions in heating devices.
Co-owner of the family company Budmet Nocoń, which produces boilers for solid biofuels in the form of wood and herbaceous pellets.
His research activity is based on the analysis of the operation of low-power boilers in real and laboratory conditions.
He is a practitioner in his industry, thanks to which he can use the acquired knowledge in innovative projects co-financed by the European Union.
The Renewable Sources of Energy Systems Chamber of Commerce (pol. acronym: IGU OZE) is a nationwide local-level self-government body that supports manufacturers of heating units and components.
We believe that the transformation of the individual-housing heat sector in Poland towards the use of low-emission and emission-free heat generators powered with the use of flow resources should be carried out with the use of technologies available and produced in our country. It is to take care for the domestic industry, fasten the decarbonization process and foster diversification policy of the technological sector supplying the broadly understood power and heat engineering. We work together with state and local government authorities as well as financial institutions. We closely and objectively cooperate with R&D institutes and universities. We are present wherever the issue of promoting domestic and ecological products is important.
Polish sector of biofuel heating systems
The renewable energy industry is a fast-developing multidisciplinary field spanning business, environmental sciences, engineering and social sciences. This sector is extensive.
The boiler industry is a traditional one, nevertheless it uses modern technologies and innovative product solutions, and it’s all because of ambitious entrepreneurs with vision and ideas, talented constructors and engineers, as well as highly qualified production staff.
The main export commodity of Polish business is its innovativeness. Our entrepreneurs have all the necessary talents and skills to create products with international potential. The strengths of Polish products often include high quality as compared with the general offer of foreign producers.
The Polish industry of boiler manufacturers is the largest in Europe. Our biomass heating systems are exported, among others, to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Northern countries. In recent years, a dynamic development of this sector throughout Europe has been noticed. In Poland, the section of boiler manufacturing is also undergoing a metamorphosis – similarly to automotive industry introducing to the market products adapted to the requirements of air and climate protection.
One of the apparent marks of these industrial changes is the widening range of affordable solid biofuel boilers made by Polish manufacturers of heating systems, even though just a few years ago the market was dominated by coal boilers.
The popularity and advantage in terms of installed capacity in RES installations is also clearly evidenced by financial indicators. The value of investments made between 2014 and 2019 in Poland in low-emission energy sources in buildings amounted to approximately PLN 5 billion. The largest investments were made in photovoltaics (32% of funds). Solar collectors (24%) came second, followed by biomass sources (20%), heat pumps (13%), connections to district heating (9%), and geothermal infrastructure (2%).
In terms of the installed capacity of these heat sources, the list opens with biomass-fuelled ones – 532 MW, followed by solar collectors – 423 MW, and photovoltaics –314 MW. [3]
What can be said with all certainty, is that the increasing use of flow energy sources and significant improvements in clean energy technologies are generating more and more jobs. According to previous analyses, the Polish RES sector provides employment for nearly 20,000 people, the majority of whom work in the area of biomass. [1] The development in the production of heating systems based on renewable energy sources creates innovations and the greatest economic added value in the entire renewable energy sector.
Solid biofuel heating systems
Currently, the market offers solid biofuel boilers of various design spanning from the most basic to the very complex ones. They can be divided according to the maximum operating temperature, maximum pressure, power, energy carrier, fuel supply method, fuel type, construction solutions, body mate - rial, and so on. Among these products one can distinguish:
wood pellet boilers;
wood and green pellets boilers;
firewood boilers;
firewood and wood pellet boilers;
wood gasification boilers (germ. Holzgas);
wood chip boilers.
The share of energy obtained from renewable sources in Poland and in the world is constantly growing. Thus, knowledge and proper understanding of national and UE legal regulations in this field become important.
Polish heating systems meet a number of restrictive national and EU standards and regulations. From the 1st October 2017 solid fuel boilers introduced to our market have to comply with standards of permissible pollutant emissions for class 5 according to PN-EN 303-5:2012. Another change is EU Commission Regulation 2015/1189 from 28th of April 2015 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and the Council regarding ecodesign requirements for solid fuel boilers (Official Journal EU L 193 of 21.07.2015, p. 100). The act is applicable directly from the 1st of January 2020 in all EU member states. It defines the requirements to be met by solid fuel boilers and specifies the obligations of entities providing such boilers on the EU market. Additionally, the EU Commission Regulation 2015/1187 of 27th of April 2017 introduced the obligation of energy labeling of boilers. This results from the framework Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 2010/30/EU of 29th of May 2010.
Pellet as a renewable energy resource in the form of compressed sawmill by-products is commonly used in different biomass heating systems. The convenient option of automatic fuel feeding in heating devices of the type, ease of storage and relatively low price caused that the niche production of pellet boilers evolved into a wide and still growing market offer. Besides specialized manufacturers of pellet boilers, companies that originally produced other heating systems fuelled with wood and fossils have also appeared on the market.
As pellet boilers have long ceased to be a niche market, even the largest manufacturers of boilers offer pellet heating systems. Modern pellet boilers are fully automated and the fuel is transmitted with the use a screw conveyor. High quality of pellet becomes important in order to prevent the formation of sinters that are likely to damage the device. An innovative solution is the use of a hybrid boiler that can pellet boilers, 5th class and Ecoproject automatic coal boilers, 5th class and Ecoproject hand fed wood boilers (Holzgas), 5th class and Ecoproject hand fed coal boilers, 5th class and Ecoproject other boilers, including exported ones be fuelled with pellet as well as firewood. Attention should be paid also to the ingenious boiler for three fuels – two types of A1 and A2 class wood pellets and green pellets, where the dust emission is below 10mg/m³.
Sales dynamics of pellet heating systems in Poland
Pellet boilers production has by far been the fastest expanding sector of the solid fuel boiler market in recent years. Interest in this type of boilers is growing quite quickly due to numerous grants, as well as the increasing pro-ecological awareness of users. The potential of pellet boilers production by Polish companies is 80−120 thousand units per year. Predispositions to sell pellet boilers are very high despite changes in legal regulations, technologies used and rising costs.
The care for air quality and natural environment are the main reasons for introducing changes in EU legal regulations on the purchase and operation of heating systems.
Legal regulations, norms and restrictions are introduced successively and apply to all EU member states. We are bound by EU regulations regarding exhaust emissions generated by stoves, fireplaces and other heat systems. The entire heating industry has been prepar- ing for these changes, hence currently only heating systems that meet the demanding environmental requirements are available on sale.
The strong presence of higher standard biomass boilers is a consequence of meeting the requirements for dust emission index below 20mg/m³. 80% of pellet boilers on the market conform to the norm and have a certificate confirming that they comply with the standards of the EU eco-design. All of these devices are listed on “Green Devices and Materials” (UTI), where one can verify their quality certificates. Due to the plans of the Market Quality Control Department, which was established by the Chamber of Commerce for RES Equipment, all members of this Chamber have agreed for 100% of their devices to be of reduced emission by October 2023.
Since 2017, the share of wood biomass-fired boilers introduced to the domestic market (16−20%), especially wood pellets, has been increasing. In the total volume of solid fuel boilers, the share of pellet heating units in 2018 reached the level of approximately 40% (Fig. 1). From the beginning of 2020, a further increase in sales of boilers fueled with wood biomass was recorded – to the level of 65−70%. There is a growing interest in pellet boilers, which at the end of 2020 at the level of approximately 120,000 units accounted for over 60% of the entire production of solid fuel boilers produced.[2]
The production of stove and fireplaces sector in our country translates into the yearly sale of around 65 thousand heating units, including pellet heaters.[4] The number should be increased by the sale of pellet burn-
Sources: ers, chimney systems and controllers, production of which Poland also can pride itself on. There is no other sector of renewable energy systems in Poland so strongly building the economical strength of the country and supporting the process of its decarbonization and elimination of coal-powered systems. The photovoltaic and heat pump sector relies heavily on imported products.
[1] https://globenergia.pl/w-polskim-sektorze-oze-pracuje-okolo-100-tys-osob/
[2] WiseEuropa: Renovation. An overview of low-emission investments in the building sector, Report from the 18th of Deceber 2020: https://wise-europa.eu/2020/12/18/ renowacja-po-polsku-raport-o-niskoemisyjnych-inwestycjach-w-sektorze-budynkow/
[3] Raport: Rynek Urządzeń Grzewczych 2020, SPIUG, Warszawa 2021, https://nape.pl/raport-rynek-urzadzen-grzewczych-2020/; K. Kubica, Clean combustion of solid fuels. Polish small capacity boilers in terms of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1189 ecodesign; COP 24 KATOWICE 2018, December 11, 2018; http://www.old.pie.pl/materialy/_upload/COP24_2018/Prezent_KK_11_12_2018/Clean_Combustion.pdf
[4] Sprzedaż i dystrybucja kominków w latach 2015−2020. Kominki Pro nr 1/2021, p. 44. https://issuu.com/kominkipro/ docs/kp44i
