Task: You have been assigned to conduct an evaluation of the bioenergy opportunity by selecting ONE source of biomass/bioenergy resources. To do this, you have to complete the two main parts namely Resource Potential Analysis and Market Analysis.

Part 1: Resource Potential Analysis

The development and scale-up of any bioenergy project begin with an analysis of the resource potential. There are three types of biomass resource potential: theoretical, technical, and economic.

i. Theoretical: Illustrates the ultimate resource potential based on calculations of all existing biomass, with no constraints on access or cost-effectiveness.

ii. Technical: Limits the theoretical resource potential by accounting for terrain limitations, land use and environmental considerations, collection inefficiencies, and a number of other technical and social constraints. This type of potential is also called accessible biomass resource potential.

iii. Economic: Economic parameters are applied to the technical resource potential, which results in a subset of the technical potential along with an estimate of the cost of biomass resources either at the field or forest edge. The final outcome of this type of assessment is a supply curve (RM/tonne).

Using any (one) of Biomass Resource Assessment Tools and Studies, perform the Resource Potential Analysis for biomass of your interest. (You can use this link as one of the references Bioenergy Assessment Toolkit (nrel.gov). Keep your evaluation as brief as possible. You can estimate with some justifications, in case there is no data made available for your selected biomass/bioenergy resources.

Part 2: Market Analysis

Analyzing the existing and potential markets for biomass resources, along with barriers, is critical when planning a bioenergy program. A thorough understanding of the market size, growth, regional segmentation, and trends relies on many different inputs such as:

i) State of technology and the country’s experience with each technology
ii) Production cost estimated
iii) Socio-economic and environmental impacts of biomass production
iv) Policy framework in support of the biomass industry
v) Trade opportunities.