Electricity and Pellet Production Using Coniferous Forest : Analysis in the District of Bragança, Portugal

The pulp and paper industry has been the pioneer to use forest biomass in Portugal. Early on they realized that forest and wood waste could be used to produce heat for their own industrial processes. The heat, which is not used for these processes, can be used for electricity generation, self-absorption or be injected into the utility grid, a process called cogeneration, and also, considering that the most traded biomass fuel is pellets, Portugal can have a major role in supplying self needs, boosting forest market prices and energetic European needs.