The spread of COVID-19 and subsequent measures taken to control its spread have had a significant impact on the bioenergy sector worldwide. Measures such as national/local lockdowns, social distancing guidelines, and restrictions on movement of people and goods have led to a significant challenges.
This document showcases the results from a survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the bioenergy sector. It finds that the hardest hit form of bioenergy is liquid biofuels, while the solid biomass sector has shown resilience. Low oil prices are making biofuels hard to compete with conventional fossil fuels. Although some of the producers have shown flexibility with production diverted to essential commodities (e.g. hand sanitizer), the significant drop in demand for transport fuels around the world due to lockdown measures is causing hardships for biofuel producers, leading to plant closures and reduced production volumes. On the other hand, most of the producers of solid biofuels (e.g. wood pellets) have continued with no significant change in production, as there were no significant restrictions in the movement of essential energy commodities. The producers of industrial pellets also benefit from long-term offtake agreements with buyers. However, a key challenge for the sector has been the procurement of feedstock, as most of the industry depends on forestry harvesting and processing residues which have been impacted due to national/regional restrictions.