Logging residues from regeneration fellings for biofuel production–a GIS-based availability analysis in Finland

Finland has large forest fuel resources. However, the use of forest fuels for energy production has been low, except for small-scale use in heating. According to national action plans and programs related to promotion of biofuels, the utilization of such resources will be multiplied over the next few years. The most significant part of this growth will be based on the utilization of forest fuels, produced from logging residues of regeneration fellings, in industrial and municipal power and heating plants. Availability of logging residues was analyzed by means of resource and demand approach in order to identify the most suitable regions with focus on increasing the forest fuel usage. The analysis included availability comparisons between power plant sites and resource allocation in a least-cost manner according to supply cost, and between a predefined power plant structure under given demand and supply constraints. Spatial analysis of worksite factors and regional geographies was carried out using the Graphics Information System-model (GIS-model) environment via geoprocessing and cartographic modeling tools. According to the site-specific analysis, the supply potential of different locations can differ multifold. However, due to technical and economical reasons of the fuel supply and dense power plant infrastructure, the supply potential is limited to plant level. Therefore, the potential and supply–cost calculations depend on site-specific matters, where regional characteristics of resources and infrastructure should be taken into consideration, e.g., by using a GIS-modeling approach constructed in this study.