The Latvian company BioEx has today introduced the first biomass trading platform in Latvia, which will serve as an online tool for everyone who uses biomass in Latvia – from producers and traders to heat supply and cogeneration companies. The goal of BioEx is to bring together all important Latvian energy and forestry companies that use biomass in their operations on the new platform. Registration of market participants on the platform starts today, but the first trading session is scheduled for February 6, 2023.
The total annual consumption of wood chips, which is a type of biomass, in Latvia is around 8 million MWh, which in monetary terms is around 320 million euros. The primary goal of the BioEx platform is to ensure trading efficiency, which, taking into account the significant size of the market, will bring significant benefits to Latvian heat supply and cogeneration companies, municipalities, biomass producers, as well as heat and electricity consumers – the people of Latvia.
The core value of BioEx’s new platform is transaction transparency, which is based on information exchange and an effective pricing mechanism – open auctions. Nothing ensures market efficiency better than a transparent online trading platform that brings buyers and sellers together,
says Jurijs Adamovičs,co-founder of BioEx.
The introduction of the biomass trading platform is an important step in the regulation of the Latvian energy market, especially in the area of heat supply. An open trading solution available to all participants will bring practical benefits to the energy end consumers of Latvia, namely residents, as the new trading platform will ensure fair competition between buyers and sellers and, accordingly, the best possible conditions. It should be taken into account that a large part of heat supply companies in Latvia are connected with municipalities that directly serve the residents of their region. The new trading platform will give these municipalities confidence that their biomass purchases are made as efficiently as possible,
says Ilze Indriksone,Latvian Minister of Economy.
There are several hundreds of participants in the biomass market in Latvia, for example 62 regulated heat supply companies that produce heat from biomass and at least the same number of producers that are smaller and do not meet the requirements of the regulated market, but actively participate in the market. Also, there are around 50 manufacturers of pellet production, biomass export and other timber industry producers in Latvia, where the basic raw material is biomass. In addition, several hundreds of biomass producers, transporters and holders of biomass, which are actually every forest and agricultural land owner, make up the market.
The new platform has been created with the aim of providing an opportunity to quickly and reasonably assess what is currently an appropriate market price and the quality of the offer. The mission of our companies is to offer our users continuous, secure and quality services at an economically reasonable cost, and this platform is likely to give confidence that raw materials are purchased in the most efficient way. It is important that the mentioned IT tool also ensures the successful operation of small and medium woodchip supply companies in conditions of free competition,,
says Valdis Vītoliņš,member of the board of the Association of Latvian Heating Companies and chairman of the board of SIA Jūrmalas Siltums.
All participants of the biomass market – from municipal boiler houses to pellet producers – are currently conducting transactions and purchasing in a fragmented, non-transparent market, where there is no transparent information about supply and demand. In other words, this is a market where there is significant potential for increasing efficiency, which we will be able to use in the future with the help of the BioEx solution,
continues Gunārs Greiža,member of the BioEx board.
The BioEx platform will work in a similar way to the world’s leading online commodity exchanges, namely market participants will be able to buy and sell biomass products in open, regular and fully transparent trading sessions, thereby determining the best current price and delivery conditions for biomass such as wood chips. Safe settlements will be guaranteed by the platform and the function of settlement agent will be provided by the platform’s strategic partner JSC Industra Bank.
Currently, the implementation of the first version of the BioEx platform will already provide registration of market participants, distribution according to qualification criteria, trading sessions, delivered biomass quality and settlement reports, biomass energy calculation calculator, system support, guarantee management and other functions necessary for effective transaction management.
More information about the BioEx platform can be found on the website bioex.lv
BioEx’s new biomass trading platform was created by companies with expertise in heat supply and IT solutions, that is, by combining industry knowledge with how best to build a digital platform for better trading.
A 75% co-owner of BioEx is EcoHeat Holdings – a group of Latvian companies specializing in metal processing and production, as well as operating environmentally friendly heating systems in urban and industrial facilities. The companies belonging to the group work in the production of modular boiler houses and in the provision of heat energy services to Latvian municipalities, installing and managing modern mobile chip container-type boiler houses.
FortySeven Software Professionals, on the other hand, is a 25% co-owner of BioEx – an IT consulting and full-cycle software development company founded in the United Kingdom with more than 10 years of experience in the implementation of projects in various sectors, including banking and fintech sectors, raw materials and energy fields, as well as public administration. FortySeven Software Professionals often develop complex enterprise IT solutions.