MADRID, Sept 12 (Askume) – Farmer David Jimenez Zamora is not bothered by rising gas and electricity prices during Spain’s energy crisis.
The covered swimming pool in the 18th-century farmhouse they rent out to tourists is heated, providing hot water for 26 guests at a time, saving the Spaniards money on their electricity bill.
His secret? Peridot.
“We use the olive stones from the trees to heat the swimming pool, floor heating systems and to get hot water,” the 48-year-old said.
“It’s usually used from September,” he said, standing beside a shop filled with 5,000 kilograms of stones overlooking a sea of olive trees in the province of Granada, in the southern region of Andalusia.
Olive trees also power the machinery that produces Spain’s famous “liquid gold” olive oil, which the two agricultural cooperatives are part of. Solar panels provide the rest of their energy needs.
Homes and small businesses, factories and even airplanes in Spain’s olive-growing centers use pits to fuel boilers, illustrating how industry and the country’s vast agricultural sector are supporting sectors that are harder to electrify, such as aviation.
The use of stones as biomass is nothing new in olive-producing countries such as Spain and Italy. However, farmers and industry groups say the energy shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s decarbonization movement and the olive oil industry’s struggle with price volatility in recent years have fueled renewed interest in getting maximum value from the crop.
The Spanish olive oil industry is also a natural ally for companies such as Repsol and Cepsa , which are investing heavily in expanding their capacity to convert organic waste into biofuels.
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Spain is the world’s largest olive oil producer, accounting for nearly half of global production in recent years, with 80% of production coming from Andalusia.
The Spanish biomass association Avebiom estimates that in the decade to 2019, on average, more than half of Europe’s olivine stocks were in the country.
A by-product of olive oil production, a ton of processed olives contains 8 to 10 percent seeds. Spain produces an average of about 400,000 tons of olive seeds per year, said Pablo Rodero of Avebiom.
According to Rodero, about a third of it is refined to reduce the moisture content, resulting in a cleaner product that can fuel domestic boilers and sell for up to twice the price of unrefined stone. The rest is used to produce heat to run conventional mills and industrial boilers, according to the association.
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Rodero said more and more factories and companies are refining the stone to sell to domestic users.
At the end of last year, there were 31 companies in Spain refining and producing olivine as biofuel, while in 2020 there were 25.
Several companies like Pelaez Renovables are based in Andalusia. Managing partner José Pelaez said the company refines 25,000 tons of stone per year and sells it to domestic and industrial customers, generating an added value of 60-80 euros per ton.
He said the last few years have been difficult.
Hot weather devastated Spain’s olive crop. Prices soared as the number of gems on the market decreased, ending years of stability and causing a 40% drop in demand, Peláez said.
Last year, consumers had to pay up to 400 euros per tonne for olive seeds, or about 8 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), including transport and taxes, more than double the price in 2021, according to Avebiom.
Stones are still cheaper than diesel and government-regulated natural gas, but are in line with wood pellets and more expensive than wood chips.
With prices falling to 300 euros a tonne in the second quarter of this year, Peláez expects sales to pick up this autumn.
“I would be happy with a 5-10% increase every year,” he said.
Sara Pizzinato and Helena Moreno of Greenpeace Spain say that when electrification is not possible, the role of biomass and biofuels in the energy mix should be limited because burning biomass can have environmental impacts and release pollutants.
“The industry is attracting private equity firms eager to industrialize production to a level where it is no longer sustainable,” Moreno said.
Oil company Cepsa has taken ordinary mining pits to the skies. In 2022, the company used them and other olive industry waste to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to power more than 200 flights from Seville airport in Andalusia.
Rodero and other industry sources say larger companies are focusing on producing cheaper waste that is equally or better suited to becoming biofuel, such as waste cooking oil.
Macarena Sanchez, director of Almazaras Federadas de España, said stones and other organic waste are becoming an important source of income for factories. Almazaras Federadas de España represents more than 200 factories, generating a third of its revenue.
Rodero says this is a big change for an industry that previously didn’t know how to deal with waste.
“Now everything is used. Olives are like pigs: nothing is wasted,” he said.
