PROGRAMME

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

08.30 - 19.00 Technical Site Visits: Pellets & wood chips

A full day of technical site visits about fuels, equipment and exemplary installations. Hands-on experience and information directly from technology suppliers and plant operators.

Wednesday, 4 March 2020

09.00 Strategy session: No energy transition without pellets!

In 2020, many strategic decisions for the energy transition will be taken. It is essential to position pellets as an important solution of climate policy. We show how this could be done.

• Opening and welcome
  Andreas Rabl, Mayor, City of Wels, Austria
  Gerhard Dell, OÖ Energiesparverband, Austria
  
  
• How can bioenergy profit from the Green Deal?
  Giulio Volpi, European Commission, DG Energy
  
  
• Update on European pellet markets
  Gilles Gauthier, Bioenergy Europe / European Pellet Council
  
  
• Goodbye oil, hello pellets!
  Christiane Egger, OÖ Energiesparverband, Austria
  
  
• Blockchain for pellets – transparency and sustainability
  Thomas Meth, Enviva, USA
  
  
• The new wood heat scenario
  Christoph Schmidl, BEST, Austria

11.00 Panel: Pellets – winners or losers of the climate crisis?

There is a heated debate around the role of pellets in the energy transition. Leading international experts share their views and insights on burning topics regarding the future of pellets and the development of pellet markets. 

• Stefan Wittkopf
  Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Germany
  
  
• Martin Hackl
  Fronius International, Austria
  
  
• Mihkel Jugaste
  AS Graanul Invest, Estonia
  
  
• Eric Vial
  Propellet France
  
  
• Richard Peberdy
  Drax Group, UK
  
  

Chairperson:
Gordon Murray, Wood Pellet Association of Canada

Lunch break

14.00 Pellets in action: Best practice session

In this session, we showcase innovative pellet technologies, projects and financing solutions from around the globe.

• Commercial scale projects: solutions from Upper Austria
  Anton Hofer, Hargassner, Austria
  Werner Emhofer, Fröling, Austria
  Gottfried Baumann-Leitner, Windhager, Austria
  
  
• Three decades as a pellet manufacturer
  Bruce Lisle, Energex Corporation, USA
  
  
• Trading Biomass like Electricity: Baltpool Biomass Exchange
  Andrius Smaliukas, Baltpool, Lithuania
  
  
• Pellet heat contracting – financing and operating biomass installations
  Siegfried Aigner, Aigner Energie Contracting, Austria
  
  
• Pellet technologies for industrial decarbonisation
  Alexander Van Heuverswyn, Petrobio, Sweden
  
  
• US bionenergy innovations
  Julie Tucker, U.S. Forest Service, USA

16.30 Pellet Innovation Circle

Learn about new results from R&D projects and pellet technologies for tomorrow! Hear from start-ups what they have in store for the pellet market!

• Novel concept for the pre-treatment of cereal straw
  Javier Gil Barnó, CENER, Spain
  
  
• Lignin pellets from poplar wood and corn stover
  Sergio Andrés Jaimes Rueda, University of Sherbrooke, Canada
  
  
• Low energy production of standardised pellets
  Tobias Distler, Amandus Kahl, Germany
  
  
• Micro pellet CHP with reversible ORC
  Maximilian Weitzer, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
  
  
• Novel plasma device for reducing emissions
  Adam Harvey, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, UK
  
  
• Development of biomass briquettes and stoves in China
  Guangqing Liu, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China
  
  

Start-Up Session

• The BTC technology
  Henrik Båge, Phoenix BioPower, Sweden
  
  
• Barbecue pellets made from Jim Beam Bourbon barrels
  Kenny Lisle, Energex Corporation, USA
  
  
• Mobile pellet logistics
  Patrick Grob, Waldenergie AG, Switzerland
  
  

19.00 Evening programme