On 10 December, the city of Tremp in Lleida hosted a conference on energy crops organised by the Catalonian Forest Technology Centre (CTFC) in collaboration with COMSA EMTE, the local Council and Forestal Catalana, a public company belonging to the Catalonian Government.
The aim of the event was to present the production results of the poplar plantation located on the Espona estate in the region of Pallars Jussà, a pilot initiative that began in 2010 for the purpose of studying the feasibility of using these trees for biomass generation. Three different clones of poplar have been grown on this plantation, one of which has proved viable to produce energy for biomass boilers (heat).
COMSA EMTE has been one of the drivers behind this project. During the conference, Albert Solé, the head of the Engineering, Technology and Generation department at COMSA EMTE Environment, gave a positive valuation of the results obtained with this crop and expressed his intention to use these results for biomass generation at the plant managed by the company in Les Borges Blanques (Lleida) together with Abantia. This facility is a world pioneer that combines solar-thermal energy and biomass.
The event began with a series of presentations by the technicians and representatives from the companies taking part in the project, and ended with a visit to the estate, where attendants learnt details on the process of tree felling, collecting and piling.
