Innovation and institutional change: the transition to a sustainable ...

118 Chapter 4
Figure 4.5 Conversion of biomass into electricity (Faaij, 1997)
Biomass
Gasification
(co-)combustion
Steam turbine
Electricity
Pyrolysis Fermentation
Gas turbine/
engine/
fuel cell
Until the middle of the eighties the use of biomass for electricity generation
was limited. In the late 1980s, the use of biomass as a source for electricity
production increased when the first national environmental policy plan
introduced a new sequence of waste treatment options, preferring waste
incineration to disposal. Waste disposal became increasingly questioned
because of lack of space and soil pollution in the Netherlands. Also the use
of waste incineration for heat and/or electricity production was formulated as
a policy objective (VROM, 1989: 223). Consequently, waste incineration
expanded and increasingly electricity generation was added as an additional
activity. Next to incineration also the use of landfill gas for electricity
generation increased. From 1995 on, electricity production by waste
incineration significantly increased (see also Table 4.7), due to increasing
restrictions on waste disposal and the introduction of regulatory measures for
incineration plants that forced existing installations to reduce emissions and
increase efficiency, thus also increasing electricity production. Waste
incineration was until the end of the nineties the main renewable source for
electricity generation but remained at a stable level while other biomass
options were expanding, particularly co-combustion of biomass in coal-fired
power plants. In 2003 around a quarter of Dutch renewable energy is based
upon waste incineration (CBS, 2004: 25).