Despite having more than a dozen production plants, bioethanol and biodiesel probably covered only around 0.6 of Spain’s transport needs in 2006 and much of the output was exported, industry sources say

MADRID, Spain; February 22, 2007.- The Industry Ministry has already said it is considering making biofuel blending compulsory, as part of its efforts to boost renewable energies and meet its target of 6 percent biofuel use in transport by 2010.

In 2006 Spanish plants produced the equivalent of 549,000 tonnes of oil of grain-based bioethanol and oilseed-based biodiesel, Industry Ministry figures show.

For 2010 that needs to rise to 2.2 million tonnes and it has to be consumed internally, not exported, if Spain is to achieve the carbon dioxide emission targets it has set itself as part of its commitment to the Kyoto agreement to curb global warming.

Biofuels are generally cleaner burning than mineral oil fuel, and the CO2 they produce is offset by the amount absorbed by the plants used to make them.

Figures are not yet available to show how much of last year’s production went into Spanish fuel tanks.

The renewable industry association APPA estimates biofuel usage was probably around 0.6 percent of the total, up from 0.44 percent in 2005.

Even with uptake slow at home and in the face of falling oil prices and rising grain and soy costs, Spanish companies are piling into the sector.

Spain has a deficit in grain and produces little sunflower or rapeseed oil, so most companies depend on imported raw materials. A minority so far are concerned about ensuring those raw materials are from sustainable sources.

One typical new biodiesel project, announced by Iniciativas Bioenergeticas last month in Zaragoza, is due to start producing 250,000 tonnes from 2009.

Its manager, Felix Revuelta, said it would use a predominantly soy oil from Latin America, with some palm oil and rapeseed oil.

The company will buy palm oil in Colombia and perhaps Malaysia and rapeseed in eastern Europe and will ask for certificates to say oil is only for industrial, not food, use.

(Reuters)

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