Solid biomass is a limited, locally available resource, which has in most cases to be transported from production areas to utilization areas. Due to low energy density of solid biomass, logistics become critical because transport costs can negatively affect the performance of bio-energy supply chains. For this reason, a number of optimization and simulation models have been proposed in literature to evaluate and possibly minimize costs of biomass logistics foe energy onversion plants. Existing models usually assume location and requirements by energy conversion plants as assigned parameters. However, both supply and demand issues should be taken into account in solving location problems, and decisions about location, capacities, and technologies of conversion plants and about supply areas should be taken at the same time. For this purpose, in this paper we propose an economic optimization model for locating and designing biomass fuelled district energy systems, and we present a life scale application to plan district heating systems exploiting residual biomass from forest and wood working industry in a mountain area in North Eastern Italy.
