INESC TEC participated in a European biomass conference

This year, INESC TEC associated itself to the promotion of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE), which took place at Lisbon Congress Centre between 27 and 30 May.

ADENE - Portuguese Energy Agency as the National Supporter of EUBCE 2019, coordinated the National Committee, which was composed of representatives from the Portuguese Government, public sector, industry, associations, academia and R&D, including INESC TEC, which was responsible for the organisation of the event (http://www.eubce.com/conference/conference-committees.html).

The EUBCE 2019's programme, which was coordinated by Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, included over 150 international experts in the biomass area. INESC TEC was represented by the researchers of the Centre for Enterprise Systems Engineering (CESE) Alexandra Marques and Jorge Cunha, with the articles “Biomass Logistics Planning: Are There Gains in Integrating Chipping and Transportation Operations?” and “Flows Analysis and Capacity for Processing Forest Biomass in Portugal and Galicia Region”, respectively.

Besides INESC TEC, in partnership with the Collaborative Laboratory ForestWISE, the exhibition space of the Pavilion of Portugal was attended by entities such as the Directorate General of Energy and Geology (DGEG), the National Laboratory of Energy and Geology and Biomass (LNEG), the Biomass Centre for Energy (CBE) and the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).

EUBCE is already on its 27th edition and was held in Portugal for the second time in 30 years. With more than 1,500 delegates from 70 countries, including national and European leading political figures, representatives of the industry, academia and institutions of the sector, the purpose of the event was to debate the importance and opportunities of using and enhancing biomass for the energy production and the achievement of decarbonisation objectives in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate changes and sustainable development.

In addition to the main conference, the activities included a national event, under the theme "Current Status of Bioenergy in Portugal", with thematic sessions and a keynote speech on biomass markets, as well as technical visits and an exhibition space.

This meeting highlighted the growing importance of biomass in the European energy mix and its contribution to the energy transition based on renewable energy sources, as well as the need to find innovative solutions to address the associated challenges.

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC.