The Public Environmental Management Company of Castilla-La Mancha (GEACAM) has signed a collaboration agreement with the company Ence Energía, a company that has a production plant in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, through which both companies will carry out tests with which analyze and verify the feasibility of using the remains from forestry work for use as biomass for the generation of renewable energy.
This is a one-year project whose objectives are to describe the different types of preventive treatments for forest fires and propose exploitation models, specifying methods and machines to be tested in the field and analyze their use as fuel for this renewable energy. responding to the needs defined in the forestry policy of the region.
In the words of the managing director of GEACAM, Carlos Álvarez, through collaboration agreements such as the initialing, it is possible to “work side by side with other companies in the region, thus promoting research, innovation and development in the field of renewable energies”.
For Ence Energía, this project represents a new opportunity to contribute to the energy transition. As explained by the CEO of Ence Energía, Marc Gómez, “this cooperation allows a new solution for the management of these remains, circularizing them and providing renewable and manageable electrical energy to the electrical system. In this way, decarbonization and security of supply are favored. At the same time, this agreement promotes the development of rural areas, through the creation of employment and sustainable activity”.
With this cooperation, both companies intend to develop an R&D project for the execution of tests, the quantification of biomass residues that can be recovered in the mountains of Castilla-La Mancha, as well as the acquisition, design and manufacture of adapted machinery to the specific needs in this type of treatment.
Preventive silvicultural treatments
To achieve the proposed goals, GEACAM is going to make available to ENCE the forest biomass residues resulting from work carried out during the execution of the Infocam Plan forest fire prevention campaigns.
In this way, both entities will maintain direct and continuous communication on the planning of the work in the natural environment, the dates of action, the areas in which said treatments will be carried out, as well as the results of the tests that are carried out to assess the viability of this type of project. Both the design of the works and the tests will be carried out jointly by the professionals of both companies and with the supervision of the General Directorate of the Natural Environment and Biodiversity.
It is estimated that, throughout the 2022 financial year, the public company GEACAM will carry out silvicultural treatments and preventive work on more than 9,400 hectares in the mountains of Castilla-La Mancha in areas of special risk of the spread of forest fires.
