Bioenergy can make an important contribution to a sustainable energy supply world wide. However, there are several prejudices associated with bio-energy technologies and these must be addressed and overcome to help the EU reach its bio-energy potentials and its renewable energy objectives.

One of the major non-technical barriers for the development of bioenergy projects in the EU is the permitting procedure. Based on the analysis of more than 130 real cases of permitting processes covering biofuel, biogas, biomass combustion and co-firing installations and on a workshop held in June 2008 for stakeholders, the key factors influencing the permitting of bio-energy projects were identified:

• Too many process steps and permits issued by separate authorities
• Permits are subject to a wide range of legislative acts
• Lack of clear timetables
• Lack of local knowledge and capacity to analyse complex bio-energy permit applications
• Lack of clear procedure to obtain grid access
• Local resistance to bio-energy projects