GIS BASED ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FOREST RESIDUES FOR ENERGY IN ALENTEJO, PORTUGAL

Abstract

The present work evaluates the quantity and spatial distribution of potential forest residues in Alentejo, the largest geographic region in Portugal. Forest residues from the five main species in Portugal, tasmanian blue gum, cork oak, maritime pine, holm oak and stone pine, were assessed. The characterization of the biomass residues was performed in a Geographical Information System environment using the Portuguese land cover map and residues production rates from the available literature sources. The calculations were executed for every cell of a 250 m cell size grid. The total potential residues obtained was around 330,000 dry ton/year, with 172,000 dry ton/year being from cork oak. The residues spatial distribution occurs mainly in the western and north-western parts of Alentejo. This area was also the only one to achieve values of residual biomass above 80,000 dry ton/year for a 35 km radius collection area.