PEAT

Background

Since World War II there has been a big change in attitudes towards the use of peat as an energy source and the role of peatlands as a natural resource. In the 1950´s peat was still regarded as an important fuel in many countries in Europe, and large development programmes were being undertaken in Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Finland and in the member states of the then Soviet Union.

A good example of the importance of peat in energy production at that time was a decision made during the World Power Conference held in London in 1950 to maintain permanent contacts among peatmen interested in international co-operation. Through the initiative of this group and the generous support of the Irish state-owned peat company Bord na Móna, it was decided to hold an International Peat Congress in Dublin, Ireland in 1954. This plan was realised and later another International Peat Congress was organised in the then Leningrad in 1963. As a result of this development the International Peat Society was inaugurated in 1968 in Quebec, Canada in connection with the 3^rd International Peat Congress.

In the 1960´s the availability of cheap oil and coal started to affect the competitiveness of peat as fuel and the role of energy peat began to decrease in these countries, except for Ireland and the Soviet Union, where peat continued to play an important role as a fuel in power generation and also in small local consumption. Numerous peat briquette factories were in operation in Ireland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Estonia.

At the end of the 1960´s and at the beginning of the 1970´s fuel prices started to increase, on the basis of which the first national energy peat development programme was adopted in Finland in 1971. The Government of Finland approved a peatland reclamation policy according to which production of energy peat was planned to be raised to 10 million cubic metres till 1980. This target was doubled in 1974 after the Middle East war, as a result of which oil prices increased in the world market. The Finnish Parliament allocated the required financial resources for the purchase of peatlands and for the hiring of a labour force. As a result of intensive work, the target was met for the first time in 1986, when 20.4 million cubic metres of energy peat (1.7 mtoe) was produced in Finland.

The 1970´s meant a turning point in peat usage. In Western Europe large mire areas had been reclaimed during past generations for agricultural use, as a result of which the number of pristine mires was decreasing with ever-increasing speed. In some countries large areas of peatlands were drained after World War II for growing forests. Peatlands were particularly effectively drained in Finland, where during the 1950´s to 1980´s almost 50% of the country´s original 10.4 million hectares of pristine mires were drained for forestry purposes. Simultaneously with this development the use of peat as a growing medium was gradually increasing, which added to the pressure, especially on large pristine ombrotrophic type of bogs, the number of which was getting scarce in Central European countries.

In Canada and in the USA some studies were made in the 1970´s and 1980´s to evaluate the use of peat as fuel. The outcome of these studies was that peat is not competitive, owing to the availability of cheap oil, coal and natural gas in those countries. Only in some areas in the midlands of Canada is peat used today on a minor scale as a local fuel. In Canada and the USA peat is used as growing media and today Canada is the leading country in the world in terms of volume of horticultural peat produced. This has led to the fact that Canada is also one of the major players in the world community as far as environmental issues related to the use of peat and peatlands are concerned.

There have also been some attempts to develop the use of peat as fuel in Central Africa and South-East Asia. In Burundi, for example, minor peat operations have been established with the aid of West European countries. In Indonesia and Malaysia, where there are huge peat resources, fuel peat operations were developed in the 1980´s and 1990´s. Owing to economic difficulties in that area these operations have been closed for the present and no major peat development programmes are being conducted for the time being.

The existence of the South-East Asian peat resources has come to the attention of the world community, owing to immigration programmes for which purpose huge areas of peatlands have been drained for agricultural purposes. One example is the famous "Mega-Rice" land conversion programme, commenced in 1996 in Central Kalimantan, which covers about one million hectares of peatlands drained and cleared from forestry for rice cultivation. Immigration programmes with drainage of peatlands and cutting of timber from peatland forests, followed by slash burning, have caused huge fires in that area, as a result of which thick layers of peat swamps have been burnt to ash from top to bottom.

Environmental considerations

Although more than half of the mires within the European Union are still pristine, the development mentioned above has led to strong anti-peat campaigns, especially in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. For instance in Switzerland all remaining peatlands have been protected and no peat harvesting is possible any more. Also in the North European countries, nature conservation organisations and environmental authorities carefully monitor the environmental impacts of peat production and use, and new restrictions are imposed almost annually, as a result of ever-tightening environmental legislation. The role of the European Commission in environmental issues concerning peat has increased, especially after Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, with repercussions in both countries.

Major environmental concerns regarding the use of energy peat are principally the same as those for other fuels. Worry about the adequacy of peat resources and the sustainability of their use has activated nature conservation bodies to increase the number of protected mires, and special mire conservation programmes have been developed in different countries. In Finland, for instance, this discussion was most intensive in the 1970´s, when national peat development programmes were started and the peat industry was branded as the destroyer of Finnish peatlands. This fear was gradually overcome, as people started to realise that less than one percent of the total peatland area was needed for the peat industry during the future decades, at the same time as the protected mire area was in practice increasing to over one million hectares. In Central Europe the situation is worse because peatlands have been an object of human impact for hundreds or even thousands of years and certain types of pristine mires may be relatively scarce compared with Northern and Eastern Europe - to say nothing of Canada, where there is the largest concentration of pristine mires in the western world, or of Siberia in the east, where huge land areas are covered with thick and untouched peat deposits.

Drainage is a specific feature of peat usage because over 90% of the weight of natural peat mass is water. Especially at the initial stage of ditching, a lot of water is released and directed by the force of gravitation to streamlets, rivers and lakes, carrying along solid substances and nutrients. Sophisticated mechanical and chemical techniques have been developed to reduce emissions from the drainage network and an acceptable purification level has been achieved under normal working conditions. Water legislation varies from country to country, but the new EU Framework Directive in the Field of Water Policy (No 2000/60/EC) will no doubt in the long run lead to harmonisation of water quality requirements, including within the peat industry.

Emissions from the combustion of peat are for the present well controlled owing to the relatively low natural SO₂ content of peat and the use of new boiler techniques, as a result of which NO_x emissions have been kept at a reasonable level. Changing over from oil and coal to peat has significantly reduced the SO₂ load in towns where there are large CHP plants using peat as major fuel. According to the present emission limits there has not been a need to use chemical purification systems. Early in 2001, a proposal was being discussed in the European Commission to adopt a Council directive on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants (11070/1/2000 – C5-0562/2000 – 1998/0225(COD)), which may bring with it a need for changes to the present peat fired-plants.

During the past decade the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) problem has become a major issue in discussions concerning the environmental impacts of energy production. In this debate the peat industry has been the loser, because peat is classified as a fossil fuel and CO₂ emissions released during its combustion are taken into account in full in the calculations of the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). This classification and calculation model has been strongly criticised, especially by the peat industry of Finland and Sweden, because it does not take into account annual growth of peat and the possibility of producing biomass on cut-over peatlands. Thanks to the report "The Role of Peat in Finnish Greenhouse Gas Balances", commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry and produced by three internationally-recognised peatlands and climate change experts from the USA, the UK and Finland, the attitude towards peat has changed and approaches that of the peat industry. In the report it is stated that peat could be classified as a biomass fuel, so as to distinguish it from biofuels (such as wood) and from fossil fuels (such as coal). According to the report, peat can be regarded as a slowly renewable natural resource. In November 2000 the European Parliament amended Article 21 of the Council Directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources in the international electricity market, adding peat to the list of renewable energy sources. The fate of the amendment is unknown for the present, because at the time of writing the decision-making process is unfinished. In the countries where peat still plays an important role as a local energy source, great attention is nowadays being paid to the process of peat classification and to how greenhouse gas emissions from peat combustion are taken into account in the calculations of the IPCC.

Peat as an energy source

Although environmental aspects nowadays play a central role in social and commercial decision-making processes, they are only a part of the totality, which includes many other aspects. In the White Book on "An Energy Policy for the European Union" the Commission emphasises that in the energy policy of the European Community market integration, sustainable economic growth, job creation and prosperity for its citizens have to be taken into account. An especially important principle of the EU’s energy policy is security of supply, as well as social and economic cohesion.

Peat as a local "biomass" fuel meets most of the demands the Commission has set for the energy policy of the European Community. Peat is produced mostly in remote areas where there is a chronic lack of industrial jobs. Powerful tractors typical in peat harvesting can be used outside the production season in agriculture, road maintenance and in wood transportation. New methods have been developed to establish "biomass terminals" on peat production sites, where wood is collected from the surrounding forests, crushed into chips, mixed with peat and transported to CHP plants. There have been experiments in drying wood chips with the aid of solar energy during the summer on the surface of the peat bog and collecting the air-dried wood chips from the peat fields with the same machines as for peat.

Especially in Finland, attention has been paid to co-combustion of peat and wood. It has been found that the chemical properties of wood fuel alone may cause certain problems in boilers. Burning peat together with wood helps to control the combustion process and reduce corrosion in the superheater tubes. This is mainly due to the mineral components of peat, which are proportionally higher than those of wood. Some advantage is gained with respect to SO₂ emissions when peat is used simultaneously with wood. Many boilers which have been originally dimensioned for combustion of peat cannot meet full capacity with wood only. Thus, a successful increase in the use of wood as fuel in CHP plants depends on the use of peat as well. There are also good reasons to have alternative fuels available on commercial grounds and for security of supplies.

According to statistical data collected by the International Peat Society, energy peat production in Europe in 1999 was 21.5 million tonnes of air-dried peat. Finland was a leading energy peat producer in terms of volume, with some 7.5 million tonnes of production. The second in rank was Ireland with 4.7 million tonnes and the third the Russian Federation with 3.7 million tonnes of production. Belarus, Sweden and Estonia followed as the next largest producers. Compared with the situation in 1990, the use of energy peat has slightly decreased, but the same countries are involved as in 1990. Energy peat is mainly used locally, but small amounts of peat briquettes have been exported from Estonia to Sweden and Finland, sod peat from Estonia, Scotland and Finland to Sweden and milled peat from Finland to Sweden. There have also been experiments in importing a few parcels of milled fuel peat from Russia into Finland. The total production area of energy peat in Europe was 113 000 ha. Including the USA, Canada and South Africa, horticultural peat was produced on an area of 100 000 ha. IPS data show that there were over 800 companies producing peat in 1999, with a labour force contributing an average of about 32 000 man-years.

Raimo Sopo
Secretary General
International Peat Society

Finland

Editors’ note: The production data in Table 8.3, which are based as far as possible on questionnaires returned by WEC Member Committees, are broadly compatible with the IPS data, after allowing for differences in reporting conventions (e.g. for Ireland).

DEFINITIONS

Peat is a soft organic material consisting of partly decayed plant matter together with deposited minerals.

For the purposes of Table 8.1, Peatland is defined as follows: for land to be designated as peatland, the depth of the peat layer, excluding the thickness of the plant layer, must be at least 20 cm on drained, and 30 cm on undrained land.

Peatland reserves are most frequently quoted on an area basis because initial quantification normally arises through soil survey programmes or via remotely-sensed data. Even where deposit depths and total peat volumes are known, it is still not possible to quantify the reserves in energy terms because the energy content of in-situ peat depends on its moisture and ash contents. However, the organic component of peat deposits has a fairly constant anhydrous, ash-free calorific value of 20-22 MJ/kg, and if the total quantity of organic material is known, together with the average moisture and ash contents, then the peat reserve may be equated with standard energy units.

The definitions applicable to Table 8.2 are as follows:

Proved amount in place is the tonnage that has been carefully measured and assessed as exploitable under present and expected local economic conditions, with existing available technology.

Proved recoverable reserves is the tonnage within the proved amount in place that is recoverable under present and expected local economic conditions, with existing available technology.

Estimated additional amount in place is the indicated and inferred tonnage additional to the proved amount in place which is thought likely to exist in unexplored extensions of known deposits or has been inferred from geological evidence. Speculative amounts are not included.

Estimated additional amount recoverable is the tonnage within the estimated additional amount in place which geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty might be recovered in the future.

Types of Peat Fuel

There are three main forms in which peat is used as a fuel:

• Sod peat - slabs of peat, cut by hand or by machine, and dried in the air; mostly used as a household fuel;

• Milled peat - granulated peat, produced on a large scale by special machines; used either as a power station fuel or as raw material for briquettes;

• Peat briquettes - small blocks of dried, highly compressed peat; used mainly as a household fuel.

Table 8.2 Peat: resources and reserves at end-1999
Excel files	Proved amount in place	Proved recoverable reserves	Estimated additional amount in place	Estimated additional amount recoverable
	million tonnes
Africa
Senegal	17
North America
Canada	1 092		336 908
United States of America	6 400	15	103 600
South America
Argentina	90	80	50	15
Asia
Turkey	53
Europe
Estonia	2 370	1 520
Finland	850	420	2 200	1 000
Germany	157	36
Hungary	28	24	159	121
Ireland	138	98	140	120
Latvia	473	190	324	194
Netherlands		120
Poland	40		5 400
Romania	25	13	10	10
Sweden	700	70
Notes:
1. The data on resources are those reported by WEC Member Committees in 2000/2001. They thus constitute a sample, reflecting the information available in particular countries: they should not be considered as complete, or necessarily representative of the situation in each region. For this reason, regional and global aggregates have not been computed
2. Tonnages are generally expressed in terms of air-dried peat (35%-55% moisture content), except those for Ireland, which are reported on a 0% moisture content basis

COUNTRY NOTES

The Country Notes on peat have been compiled by the editors, drawing principally upon the following publications:

• Lappalainen, E. (editor); 1996; Global Peat Resources; International Peat Society, Finland
• Couch, G.R.; 1993; Fuel peat - world resources and utilisation; IEA Coal Research, London

Information provided by WEC Member Committees and from other sources has been incorporated when available.

Argentina

There are some 500 km² of peat bogs on the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of the republic. These deposits constitute some 95% of Argentina’s peatlands: other peat bogs exist in the highland valleys of the Andean Cordillera and in other areas. However, economic exploitation of peat is almost entirely confined to Tierra del Fuego, where relatively small amounts (circa 3 000 m³ per annum) are extracted, almost entirely for use as a soil-improvement agent. Consumption of peat for fuel is currently negligible.

Proved recoverable reserves of peat are reported by the Argentinian Member Committee to be 80 million tonnes, within a total proved amount in place of some 90 million tonnes. A further 50 million tonnes of (unproved) resources is estimated to be present, of which some 15 million tonnes is deemed to be recoverable.

Belarus

The peatlands of Belarus are by far the most extensive in Eastern Europe (excluding the Russian Federation), amounting to 24 000 km². The largest areas of peat formation are in the Pripyat Marshes in the south and in the central area around Minsk. Peat has been used as a fuel for many years, with the highest consumption during the 1970’s and 1980’s. The use of peat as a power station fuel ceased in 1986; fuel output in recent years has been largely confined to the production of peat briquettes, mainly for household use.

Out of a total fuel peat production of around 3 million tonnes per annum, deliveries to briquetting plants account for about 2 million tonnes. Consumption of peat by heat plants amounts to about 300 000 tpa, with the balance of peat supply either being exported or consumed by a variety of small-scale consumers. Current annual output of peat briquettes is approximately 1.7 million tonnes, of which about 78% is consumed by residential users.

Brazil

The area of peatland has not been precisely established but it is believed to be at least 15 000 km², which makes it the largest in any South American country. There are extensive deposits in the Middle Amazon and in a large marshy plain (Pantanal) near the Bolivian border. Smaller areas of peatland exist in some coastal locations; those in the industrialised south-east of Brazil (in the states of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), and further north in Bahia state, have attracted interest as potential sites for the production of peat for energy purposes. The Irish peat authority Bord na Móna carried out preliminary surveys in Brazil in the early 1980’s but no production of peat for fuel has yet been developed.

The total amount of peat in situ has been estimated as 25 billion tonnes. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, measured/indicated/inventoried resources of peat amounted to just over 129 million tonnes at end-1999, with an inferred/estimated additional amount of almost 358 million tonnes.

Burindi

There are appreciable areas of peatland, totalling about 140 km². The principal known deposits lie beneath the Akanyaru swamp complex in northern Burundi: these cover about 123 km² and are estimated to contain 1.42 billion cubic metres of peat in situ. The proved amount in place (expressed in terms of recoverable dry peat) was reported in 1992 to be 56 million tonnes.

Peat has been proposed as an alternative fuel to wood, in order to reduce deforestation, and a number of surveys have been conducted. Fuel peat is currently produced by semi-manual methods at four locations, but usage of the resource remains predominantly for agricultural purposes. The United Nations estimates annual production and consumption of fuel peat as 12 000 tonnes.

Canada

The total area of peatland, reported by the Canadian WEC Member Committee to be more than 1.1 million km², is greater than that of any other country. Deposits of peat are widely distributed, with the largest areas in the Northwest Territories (23% of the Canadian total), Ontario (20%) and Manitoba (19%). The reported amounts of peat in place are enormous, with over a billion tonnes classified as proved and an additional 300+ billion tonnes as indicated or inferred.

There have been a number of assessments of the potential for using peat as a fuel (including for power generation) but at present there is virtually no use of peat for energy purposes and none is likely in the immediate future. Canada is, however, a major producer (and exporter) of peat for horticultural applications.

China

Peatlands are quite widely distributed but do not have a high overall significance in China’s topography, accounting for only about 0.1% of the country’s land area. The principal peat areas are located in the region of the Qingzang Plateau in the south-west, in the north-east mountains and in the lower Yangtze plain in the east.

Peat has been harvested for a variety of purposes, including fuel use, since the 1970’s. Some is used in industry (e.g. brick-making), but the major part of consumption is as a household fuel. Peat has been reported to be sometimes mixed with animal dung as input to biogas plants. No information is available on the current level of peat consumption for fuel. The Chinese WEC Member Committee reported production and consumption of 600 000 tonnes in 1990 for an earlier Survey.

Denmark

Human activities, chiefly cultivation and drainage operations, have reduced Denmark’s originally extensive areas of peatland from some 20-25% of its land area to not much more than 3%. Out of a total existing mire area of some 1 420 km², freshwater peatland accounts for about 1 000 km², the remainder consisting of salt marsh and coastal meadow. Commercial exploitation of peat resources is at a low level: in 1995 the area utilised was some 1 200 hectares, producing about 100 000 tonnes per annum. Almost all the peat produced is used in horticulture; fuel use is negligible.

Estonia

Peatlands are a major feature of the topography of Estonia, occupying about 22% of its territory. They are distributed throughout the country, with the largest mires being located on the plains. The Estonian WEC Member Committee reports a proved amount of peat in place of 2.37 billion tonnes, of which just over 1.5 billion tonnes is classed as proved recoverable reserves.

Out of a total peatland area of over 9 000 km², commercial extraction of peat takes place on about 160 km². More than half of the output is used for horticultural purposes: the use of peat for fuel is currently in the order of 350 000 tonnes per annum, cut from about 60 km² of peat bogs. Most of the peat is consumed in the form of briquettes – there are three briquetting plants, each with an output capacity of 120 000 tonnes/year. In 1999 briquette production totaled 106 000 tonnes, down from 162 000 tonnes in 1996; 64 000 tonnes of briquettes were exported, the balance being very largely consumed in the residential sector. Most of the consumption of un-briquetted peat is accounted for by district heating and electricity generation. Some sod peat (31 000 tonnes in 1999) is exported.

Finland

With their total area of some 89 000 km², the Finnish peatlands are some of the most important in Europe and indeed globally – Finland has the highest proportion of wetlands of any nation in the world. Peat deposits are found throughout Finland, with a greater density to the west and north of the country.

The Finnish WEC Member Committee reports that as at end-1999 the proved amount in place was 850 million tonnes, of which 420 million tonnes is regarded as proved recoverable reserves. Additional amounts of 2.2 billion tonnes in place, with 1.0 billion tonnes recoverable, are also reported for the present Survey.

The area of peat potentially suitable for commercial extraction is 6 220 km², of which about 22% contains high-grade peat suitable for horticulture and soil improvement. The remaining 78% (together with other deposits from which the surface layers have been harvested for horticultural use) is suitable for fuel peat production. In 1995, the total area used for peat production was only 530 km², from which 25.8 million m³ were extracted for fuel use and 2.1 million m³ for non-energy uses.

In 1998, CHP plants accounted for 48%, and power stations 22%, of the total national consumption of fuel peat; industrial users consumed 25%, the balance being used in heat plants (4%), and directly in the residential and agricultural sector (1%).

Germany

The majority of the peatlands are in the northern länder of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Brandenburg. Most of Germany’s fens have been drained, the land being used for agriculture, mainly grassland farming. The German WEC Member Committee reports that in a total peatland area of some 14 000 km² the proved amount of peat in place is 157 million tonnes, of which about 23% is considered to be recoverable.

Out of the total area covered by raised bogs, approximately 60% is farmed, with only a small proportion (less than 10%) exploited for peat production. Energy use of peat is reported to be very limited at present, virtually all production being destined for agricultural/horticultural uses or for the manufacture of activated carbon. A small amount of energy-grade peat is exported.

Greece

Despite the drainage of large stretches of former fenland, and the loss of much peat through oxidation and self-ignition, peat resources in Greece are still quite considerable. The largest deposits are in the north of the country, at Philippi in eastern Macedonia and Nissi in western Macedonia. The Philippi peatland covers about 55 km² and is nearly 190 metres deep – the thickest known peat deposit in the world.

Fuel Peat: World Resources and Utilisation quotes total reserves as 4 billion tonnes: the proportion of this amount that might be suitable for fuel use is indeterminate.

Peat resources in Greece have not so far been commercially exploited, either for use as fuel or for agricultural, horticultural or other purposes. Schemes for peat-fired electricity generation at Philippi and Nissi have been proposed in the past, but have subsequently been abandoned.

Iceland

Peatlands cover some 10 000 km² or about 10% of Iceland’s surface area; the ash content of the peat is usually high (10-35%), owing to the frequent deposition of volcanic ash. Although peat has traditionally been used as a fuel in Iceland, present-day consumption is reported as zero. In the past, an important non-energy application of peat consisted of the use of "peat bricks" in the construction of buildings.

Indonesia

The peatlands are by far the most extensive in the tropical zone and rank as the fourth largest in the world: they are located largely in the sub-coastal lowlands of Irian Jaya, Kalimantan and Sumatra. A feasibility study was carried out in 1985-1989 regarding the use of peat for electricity generation in central Kalimantan; no project resulted, but a small peat-fired power plant has operated in southern Sumatra. For the 1998 Survey, the Indonesian WEC Member Committee reported a proved amount in place of 49 billion tonnes and that 1996 consumption of peat for energy purposes was 520 000 tonnes.

Italy

There are significant resources of peat in Italy, mostly in Piedmont, Lombardia and Venezia in the north of the country. Fuel Peat: World Resources and Utilisation gives the estimated reserves as 2.5 billion tonnes: the proportion of this amount that might be suitable for fuel use is indeterminate.

Although peat has been used for fuel during the past, notably in the context of wartime shortages of other sources of energy, no present-day usage has been reported.

Latvia

Peatlands cover about 6 400 km², or almost 10% of Latvia’s territory, with the major deposits being located in the eastern plains and in the vicinity of Riga. "Explored deposits" of peat (reported by the Latvian WEC Member Committee as the proved amount in place) are 473 million tonnes, of which 190 million tonnes are classed as proved recoverable reserves. "Evaluated deposits" provide an additional amount in place of 324 million tonnes, of which 194 million tonnes is regarded as recoverable.

Peat has been used in agriculture and as a fuel for several hundred years: output peaked in 1973, when fuel use amounted to 2 million tonnes. By 1990, the tonnage of peat extracted had fallen by 45% and fuel use was down to only about 300 000 tonnes. Consumption has tended to decline in recent years, with deliveries to CHP plants accounting for about two-thirds of the total. Relatively small tonnages of peat are consumed by heat plants and in the production of peat briquettes (mostly for household use).

Lithuania

Peatlands are widespread, with the larger accumulations tending to be in the west and south-east of the country. Fuel use of peat fell from 1.5 million tonnes in 1960 to 1 million tonnes in 1975 and to only about 0.1 million tonnes in 1985, since when consumption has remained at approximately the same level. The principal peat consumers are heat plants, briquetting plants and households; the last-named also account for virtually all Lithuania’s consumption of peat briquettes.

Norway

Although there are extensive areas of essentially undisturbed peatland, amounting to nearly 24 000 km², peat extraction (almost all for horticultural purposes) has been at a relatively low level in recent years.

Peat had traditionally been used as a fuel in coastal parts of the country; unrestrained cutting led to considerable damage to the peatland, which in 1949 resulted in legislation to control extraction.

Poland

The area of peatland is some 12 000 km², with most deposits in the northern and eastern parts of the country. For the present Survey, the Polish WEC Member Committee has reported the proved amount of peat in place as 40 million tonnes, with 17 billion m³ (approximately 5.4 billion tonnes) as the estimated additional amount in place. No recoverable tonnages are given.

Much use was made of peat as a fuel in the years immediately after World War II, with some production of peat briquettes and peat coke; by the mid-1960’s fuel use had, however, considerably diminished. Current consumption of peat is virtually all for agricultural or horticultural purposes.

Romania

There are just over 70 km² of peatlands: the proved amount of peat in place is reported by the Romanian WEC Member Committee to be 25 million tonnes, of which just over half is deemed to be economically recoverable. An additional 10 million tonnes of recoverable peat is estimated to be in place. Peat production for energy purposes has been only a few thousand tonnes per annum in recent years, with consumption confined to the residential and agricultural sectors.

Russian Federation

According to Global Peat Resources, the total area of peatlands is some 568 000 km²: the deposits are widely but unevenly distributed throughout the Federation. The principal peat areas are located in the north-western parts of European Russian, in West Siberia, near the western coast of Kamchatka and in several other far-eastern regions. The Siberian peatlands account for nearly 75% of the Federation total.

Total peat resources are quoted in Global Peat Resources as 186 billion tonnes, second only to Canada’s in world terms. Of the total, 11.5 billion tonnes have been the subject of detailed surveys and a further 6.1 billion tonnes have been preliminarily surveyed.

The bulk of current peat production is used for agricultural/horticultural purposes. Peat deposits have been exploited in Russia as a source of industrial fuel for well over a hundred years. During the 1920’s the use of peat for power generation expanded rapidly, such that by 1928 over 40% of Soviet electric power was derived from peat. Peat’s share of power generation has been in long-term decline, and since 1980 has amounted to less than 1%.

Approximately 5% of the exploitable peat deposits are used for fuel production, which currently amounts to around 3 million tonnes per annum.

Sweden

In Western Europe, the extent of Sweden’s peatlands (64 000 km² with a peat layer thicker than 30 cm) is second only to that of Finland’s: the deposits are distributed throughout the country, being particularly extensive in the far north. The Swedish WEC Member Committee reports a proved amount of peat in place of 700 million tonnes, of which 10% is deemed to be recoverable.

According to data reported to the IEA, peat production in recent years has averaged about 1 million tonnes per annum, with relatively little annual variation. In 1998, CHP plants accounted for 61% of total consumption, heat plants for 37% and industrial users for the remaining 2%.

The largest peat-production unit is located at Sveg, central Sweden, at an altitude of over 400 metres; it supplies a nearby briquetting plant, the only one in the country. This plant has an output capacity of about 300 000 tonnes per annum: production of briquettes (made from a mixture of peat, sawdust and wood chips) is currently about 220 000 tpa.

The use of peat as a household fuel has never been of much significance. Production of peat for industrial energy use began during the 19^th century and, after reaching a peak level during World War II, declined to virtually zero by 1970. Use of peat as a fuel for power stations and district heating plants started in the mid-1980’s and now constitutes by far the greater part of consumption.

Sweden has imported small tonnages of peat in recent years, in the form of briquettes from Estonia and sod peat from the U.K.

Ukraine

There are over 10 000 km² of peatlands, more than half of which are located in Polesie, in the north of the country, where they account for 6.4% of the surface area. The other main area for peat deposits is the valley of the Dnieper, in particular on the east side of the river. Peat production rose during the period of the communist regime, reaching 7.5 million tonnes in 1970, when 73% was used in agriculture and 27% for fuel. In recent years consumption of peat for fuel purposes has fallen to well under a million tonnes per annum, most of which is briquetted for use as a household fuel.

United Kingdom

The peatlands of Great Britain cover an area of some 17 500 km², most deposits being in the northern and western regions; Scotland accounts for about 68% of the total area of peat, England for 23% and Wales 9%.

There are about 1 700 km² of peatland in Northern Ireland, mostly located in the western half of the province.

The total UK peatland area is nearly twice that of Ireland, but the extraction of peat is on a very much smaller scale: in Great Britain, commercialised peat extraction takes place on only some 5 400 ha (equivalent to about 0.3% of total peatland). Almost all peat industry output is for the horticultural market; there is however still quite extensive (but unquantified) use of peat as a domestic fuel in the rural parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. About 20 000 tonnes per annum of air-dried sod peat is reported by the International Peat Society to be produced for energy purposes, part of which is exported to Sweden.

United States Of America

In 1995 the total area covered by peat soils (known as histosols) was some 214 000 km², of which Alaska accounted for just over 50%. In the contiguous United States, the major areas of peat deposits are in the northern states of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, along the eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida and along the Gulf coastal region as far as Louisiana.

The US WEC Member Committee reports a proved amount of peat in place of 6.4 billion tonnes, of which only 15 million tonnes is considered to economically recoverable. These assessments are based on "demonstrated" resource estimates. The large disparity between proved recoverable reserves and proved amount in place is due to a combination of environmental restrictions on commercial activities in wetlands and the fact that much of the proved amount in place is in Alaska where virtually no reserves are currently reported.

An enormous additional amount (103.6 billion tonnes) is stated to be in place, but no estimate of the tonnage eventually recoverable is available, owing to the uncertainties involved.

The potential uses of peat as fuel were evaluated during the 1970’s; a Department of Energy study published in 1980 covered – in addition to direct combustion uses – the potential for producing liquid fuels from peat.

Interest in developing the use of peat for energy purposes has diminished since 1980. A small (23 MW) power plant was constructed in 1990 in Maine, to be fuelled by local peat. Initial problems associated with the use of inappropriate harvesting equipment were overcome but it was then difficult to obtain further permits to exploit the larger bog area required; the boilers are now mainly fuelled by wood chips. There were proposals for three or four small peat-burning power stations (aggregate capacity 360 MW) to be built in Florida. However, the natural gas companies set a low enough price for the supply of gas that once again the planned use of peat did not come to fruition.