The Bloco de Esquerda wants to put limits on the export of wood and “pellets” as one of the measures to avoid worsening the heating bill of Portuguese families, which is estimated at 600 euros per year, due to the increase in prices.
In a question to the Government raised to the Assembly of the Republic and disseminated this day by the party, the parliamentary group of the Bloc “considers that in order to respond to the average consumerwhich faces 600 euros of additional spending in this cold season, it is important to establish limits on the export of wood and pellets and ensure the supply of national domestic consumers at the prices set by the Government”.
The parliamentary initiative follows the “drastic increase in the price of pelletsfrom three to 10 euros, which for the average consumption of a family corresponds to an expense of 600 euros more per year”, according to the party’s accounts.
The use of pellets for heating has grown in recent years as it is considered cheaper than other solutions available on the market, but prices have skyrocketed this winter.
According to Bloco de Esquerda (BE), “according to the Household Sector Energy Consumption Survey, 115 thousand households spent an average of 280 euros on pellets” in 2020.
BE wants to “know what measures the Government will take to avoid an increase of 600 euros/year in the household bill that use pellets for domestic use and/or water heating”.
The party’s parliamentary group also wonders “what measures the Government has taken so that biomass plants do not resort to energy crops and if the Government will lower the installed power of biomass plants and the need to build new plants due to the scarcity of biomass residual”.
According to data cited by BE, “in 2021, the capacity of Pellet production in Portugal increased by 50% and the opening of new factories continues to be subsidized with European funds, without making public the scale of their production or the origin of the biomass to be used”.
The party also mentions that, “according to Centro Pinus, an association of economic agents in the maritime pine sector, the industry consumes 57% more than what the Portuguese forest can sustainably supply.”
“We are, therefore, before a competition between different sectors (biomass to burn, sawmill, pallets, furniture or civil construction) for a limited resource,” he points out.
Bloco also affirms that “according to the study published by Zero, pellet production consumes 20% of all pine woodbut it represents only 3% of the export value of products based on this wood”.
“And this economic value must be put into perspective, since it incorporates a high public subsidy, of at least 100 million euros since 2008,” he adds, noting that “the situation is aggravated by the massive export of biomass to mega power plants in the United Kingdom and Denmark.
Source: Observadora
