A GIS-model to estimate a sustainable potential for forest fuel for energy generation in the municipality of Växjö, Sweden

Since the 1980s the municipality of Växjö in Southern Sweden has been increasingly focusing on using wood, primarily forest wood, to produce heat and electricity. A permanent and sustainable supply of forest wood (so-called forest fuel) is therefore indispensable for the future operation of the energy generation process. The objective of this project was to develop a model to estimate a sustainable potential of the forest fuel supply until the year 2050 for the municipality of Växjö. The model for the spatial and temporal analysis was implemented in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The GIS-model follows a top-down approach of three sequential modeling steps to narrow down the biomass potential estimations: a theoretical, technical and reduced technical potential. It hereby includes topographic features, resource competition or other factors to narrow down the final forest fuel potential. The result shows that the municipality of Växjö should be able to satisfy its demand for energy wood from harvested forest fuel alone until around the year 2035, but might have shortages after that until the year 2050.