Because biomass can be used not only to generate electricity, but also as a source of heat and motor fuel, it makes up the largest chunk of renewable energy in most countries by far. Craig Morris says, however, that the growth of biomass is largely over in Germany. At the beginning of 2013, Berlin-based think tank Agora Energiewende published its 12 insights on Germany’s Energiewende (PDF), an overview of the main points. The first one reads, “It’s all about wind and solar.” What about biomass? Given the discussion about the sustainability of biomass, the question is therefore whether the Energiewende itself is sustainable. That’s one reason why the German government has slammed the brakes on biomass. Last August, the revisions to the Renewable Energy Act put a limit on funding for new biomass systems – no more than 100 MW would be supported. To put this into perspective, the market had more than 5,000 MW of biomass-fired power generation capacity installed (cumulative) at the end of 2013. In February, the German Energy Ministry published a … Continue reading Biomass – the growth is over in Germany