Biomass residues revaluation with energy production in a nursery company

•In a nursery production of green waste and energy consumption are environmentally friendly.•Renewable energy incentives are basically not enough to make these solutions compete with conventional fossil fuels in a nursery.•ORC plant have high initial costs and in spite of the high value of incentives, a similar investment is not recommended for a nursery.

In the Tuscany region, Italy, nurseries produce a large amount of biomass residual and treat it as waste product from working activity, usually. The aim of this study is to evaluate a different way to use residuals for the nursery company Vannucci Piante (Pistoia), from the availability of residuals to the thermal demand of the company. The possibility of internally treating the biomass in order to transform it into solid fuel has also been taken into account. The thermal demand derives from the heating of greenhouses and offices during the winter period. The thermal energy requirement and the solid biomass fuel availability are studied in order to be conciliated. Three different solutions have been evaluated, considering co-generation and incentive bonus for the production of thermal and electric energy, as provided by the Italian law. The feasibility of the solutions has been analysed and the results have been compared, in order to describe the best solution in economic terms. As emerged in this study, policies for renewable energy in Italy are not up to the task of supporting those type of investment, in particular for agricultural waste revaluation.