D. S. Strebkov, V. G. Chirkov, All-Russian Institute for Electrification in Agriculture, Russian Academy of Agricultural Science.

The extended use of bio-fuels is an important part of the sustainable development strategy declared by the EU for the several forthcoming decades. For transport applications alone, the target of 2% share of bio-fuels and other renewables is set for 2005 which shall rise by 0.75% per year up to 5.75% in the year 2010 [1]. Russia has the highest in Europe potential of reproducible plant biomass and is capable of making a substantial contribution to the EU biofuel market. The aim of this paper is to give a brief analysis of the current economic, social and technological conditions for Russia’s integration into the EU bio-fuel strategy.

Biomass resources in Russia

Plant biomass wastes applicable to energy purposes in Russia are estimated to be 100 Mt/year of plant cultivation residues and 700 Mt/year of timber-felling and wood­working wastes [2]. It is equivalent to about 1400 TWh of energy per year, while the amount of biomass to be commercially available in the EU by 2010 is only approx. 1100 TWh (90 Mt o. e.) per year [3]. Biomass resources in the European part of Russia alone amount to over 400 TWh/year, according to the evaluation made by the Swedish organisation NUTEK [4]. Long-fallow and unused arable lands constitute additional biomass resources potential. In 1995, 15 million hectares of arable land in Russia stayed unused, which is more than twice as much that, according to EU experts, would be allocated for energy crops in Europe (5.6 million hectares or 10 %) by 2020 [5]. If this land were used for SRC, it could annually yield, for instance, about 105 Mt of oven dry willow wood [6], which is equivalent to over 500 TWh. Agricultural production in Russia has considerably decreased since 1990s when the economic policy of the new federal government retrenched abruptly the subsidies to agricultural enterprices. This has led to the bankruptcy of most of the large-scale farms that were the backbone of the rural economic structure for over half a century. Since then, unused arable land has considerably increased providing favourable conditions for implementation of modern SRC energy crop production technologies.