In 2018, 26,1 million tonnes of wood pellets were consumed within the EU28. Off the back of this, the European pellet demand experienced an increase of 2,1 million tonnes in comparison to that of 2017. This represented a growth of 8%, below the 11% growth that was observed in 2017, whereby the European heating season of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 were colder in comparison to that of previous years.
2018 saw a rise in pellet demand of around 5% and 13% respectively across both the residential/commercial sectors as well as the industrial markets.
Much of this consumption was in heat production, representing 60,5%. Pellet consumption for heat can be further divided into three markets – residential heating (65%), commercial heating (23%) and heat generated from CHP (12%). The remaining 39,5% of wood pellets were used for power production (from CHP and dedicated power plants). It should be noted that the technologies for producing energy out of pellets for heat, electricity or both, are mature, offering efficient and reliable processes.
