Forestry Biomass as a Feedstock for Energy Production in Chile: Challenges and Opportunities

Chilean forestry industry in based on more than 2 million ha of pine and eucalyptus plantations, subject to 25 and 11 years rotation cycles. Addition- ally, there are 13 million ha of native forests which are not used industrially, due to strict conservation legislation. There is an urgent need to use biomass as a source of heat and power, to meet growing energy needs in the country. Both, biomass residues from current forestry activities and fuelwood from energy plan- tations could provide enough energy resources to meet part of future needs. For- estry activities generate around 500.000 ton biomass residues every year, whe- reas energy plantations settled on unused land could provide 60 million ton bio- mass. Government incentives and R&D would be required in order to attract in- vestments, protect the environment, and maximise positive social impacts.