Answering the question of local biomass deployment: the use of energy modeling with case study for non industrial customers

Biomass-based energy carriers can play a non marginal role in a local energy system, but the impact must be carefully evaluated. The authors will report the results of an energy planning case study (for an Italian province of half a million people), based on the assessment of feasible use of local biomass, related with the energy modeling of the territory, by focusing on non industrial energy end use. From the policy maker's standpoint the interesting issue can be twofold: how many decentralized biomass power plant can be authorized without jeopardizing (or minimizing) the use of land, currently cultivated for food producing? How sustainable is the use of imported biomass from Far East countries in a local-limited context? The case is solved by analyzing scenarios, related to the defined local Standard-MarkAl model. By assigning different weights (both from the energy, environmental and economic standpoints) to different biomasses and technologies, the results give some advices on how to evaluate potential disputes through an optimization approach.