Biomasa
Global Aranguren Biomasa -Glefaran- is situated in the town of Enkarterri, Biscay, where 58% of the land is wooded, as is 54% of the Basque Country.
The biomass which is used for electric generation comes mainly from this environment where the culture of wood is present in the day-to-day life. The use of biomass for cooking and heating purposes has existed for many thousands of years; our ancestors used wood (biomass) for their well-being.
This is why the forests have been looked after, managed and maintained with hard work; farmhouse kitchens, ironworks, charcoal, the structure of our buildings, furniture, etc. depended on the effective management of the forests. This is the inheritance we have received from our ancestors.
The use of wood by-products as raw material for the generation of alternative and renewable electric energy represents a dual benefit. On the one hand, a 100% renewable product is used with zero CO2 emission. On the other hand, the part that was discarded (splinters, cuttings, bark, pruning residues) is recovered so its use provides the rural milieu with additional resources.
The biomass used by Glefaran comes from forest felling which the timber sawmills waste in the standard productive process, either generated in their clearing process, for not reaching the required cutting size, etc. or from branch pruning.
As we do not have our own petrol or gas resources, we need sustainable alternatives such as biomass of which we have plenty.
Glefaran’s biomass comes primarily from felling in the Basque Country, Navarre, Cantabria, Burgos and other areas of Castilla-Leon, la Rioja and the south of France.
In the Basque Country there are 391,000 m2, of forest, in Navarre 310,601 m2, in Castile and Leon 2,661,653 m2, in Cantabria 282,662 m2 and in La Rioja 135,862 m2.
In Europe there are more than 3,000 production facilities of energy from biomass which employ 300,000 people, many of them in cities or metropolitan areas with high density population.