Fundão Biomass Power Plant
Report by Acrescimo, IRIS, Quercus and BiofUelwatch
Click here to download the report
Introduction
The Pilling on the Pressure report, published at the beginning of 2023, together with Biofuelwatch, revealed a worrying trend (see graph on page 7): according to the data presented in that report, there has been an ongoing upward trend in forest and in total land areas burnt by wildfires s at the same time as the electricity generating capacity of wood biomass power and heat plants has been increasing.
Over the past two decades, Portugal has been one of the worst affected countries by fires in Europe. For three years in a row, from 2016-2018, it registered the largest burned area following wildfires within the EU. The data for the five-year period 2016-2020 reveals another worrying trend: during this period, contrary to what used to be the case in the past, a larger area of forest (as defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) was burnt compared to the combined area of scrubland and agricultural land. This situation has continued in recent years.
The installation of biomass power stations burning forest wood, which has been accelerating since 2006, has been justified primarily by the need to reduce fire risks. This assumption is based on the belief that removing ‘residues’ or ‘fuel’ from forests in order to burn it in power plants is of fundamental importance for reducing the area burnt in Portugal.
Based on the data presented in graphs in the 2023 report, the supposed ‘benefit’ of such plants is paradoxical. The claims made raise two questions:
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What feedstock do the plants actually burn?
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Has the installation of multiple biomass power stations throughout mainland Portugal contributed to reducing or increasing the risk of forest fires?
This new study intends to answer these questions, particularly the second one. We focus on a specific case: the Fundão Biomass Power Plant, located in the Cova da Beira region, between the Gardunha and Estrela mountain ranges, in central Portugal.The geographical area affected by the project includes the municipality of Fundão, the municipalities of Covilhã, Belmonte and Sabugal to the north, the municipalities of Idanha-a-Nova and Penamacor to the east, the municipalities of Oleiros and Pampilhosa da Serra to the west, and the municipality of Castelo Branco to the south.