The wood pellet market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 5.5% during the forecast period. The primary drivers for the market include growing awareness of using renewable energy for residential and commercial space heating, especially in the European region. However, adoption and increasing deployment of alternative renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic, wind energy, and geothermal in various parts of the world is likely to hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

  • The power generation application held a significant market share in 2019, and it is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period.
  • As per the World Bioenergy Association, wood pellets have the potential for replacing coal in power generation facilities. With technology development in recent years, wood pellets have undergone some thermal upgrading through various processes like torrefaction, hydrothermal carbonization, and steam explosion. The thermal upgrading enables wood pellets to act as a fuel with coal properties. Asia-Pacific region with the highest number of coal power plants in the world is expected to be an opportunity for the market to grow in the near future.
  • With a significant production of wood pellets during 2019, Europe is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.



Key Market Trends

Wood Pellets for Power Generation Application to Dominate the Market

  • Pellets are a solid biomass fuel, primarily produce from wood residues and agricultural by-products like straw. Specific advantages of pellets as compared to unprocessed biomass include standardized properties, high energy content, and high density.
  • Electricity generation is one of the primary applications of wood pellets. During 2019, power generation installed capacity from solid biomass including wood pellets is estimated to be around 67.62 megawatts. Moreover, with the active participation of various countries in decarbonization, it is expected to have productive uses of wood pellets for power production during the forecast period.
  • Drax Power Station in the United Kingdom is one of the prominent wood pellets power project, that generates nearly 3.9 gigawatts. The power generated is produced by using 75% wood pellets and rest by using coal.
  • Combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Ueno, Japan, is one of the prominent wood pellets project in Asia, commissioned in 2015. The plant produces nearly 165 kilowatts of electricity.
  • Ontario Power Plant in Canada has evaluated wood pellets uses in its power plant and is expected to utilize it in all units in the near future. With the increase in biomass feedstock from agriculture and forestry, it is expected that electricity generation from wood pellets is expected to get increased during the forecast period.



Europe to Dominate the Market

  • Europe was the largest wood pellet producer and consumer of wood pellets during 2018. Out of 35.4 million tones (MT) wood pellets produced in 2018, nearly 19.4MT was produced in Europe.
  • Regarding consumption, 35MT wood pellets were consumed globally in 2018, of which 26.2 MT of wood pellets were consumed in Europe.
  • The demand for wood pellets in Europe majorly comes for the residential heating facilities, commercial heating facilities, and CHP plants. With a decrease in atmospheric temperature, woods pellets consumption, especially in residential and commercial spaces increases.
  • During 2018, the demand for wood pellets increased by 2.1MT in comparison to the year 2017. Nearly 65% of the demand was generated from residential spaces, 23% was generated from commercial spaces, and the rest 12% was generated from CHP plants.
  • During 2018 nearly 40% of the total wood pellets consumed in Europe was for electricity generation. The government initiatives for decarbonization, and growing electricity generation from wood pellets in the European countries is likely to increase the total consumption of wood pellets in the European region during the upcoming time.



Competitive Landscape

The wood pellet market is moderately consolidated. Some of the key players in the market include Enviva Partners LP, AS Graanul Invest, Drax Group Plc, Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc, AN Viet Phat Energy Co. Ltd, International Woodfuels LLC, Energex American Inc. among others.

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