Abstract
In the last 18 months, several South-Tyrolean entrepreneurs have decided to invest in the biomass gasification technology, clearly conveying strong interest in the sector of small scale cogeneration plants. This was unexpected because the current state of this technology is still not completely mature for the market. On one hand, there is a clear economic interest of the companies that can obtain incentives for the selling of electricity produced by biomass. On the other hand, there is a scientific and a commercial interest in the demonstration of the energetic efficiency, environmental performance, reliability and optimization of this technology. At the moment, this type of survey is unique in Italy. In addition, it can support the local public administration, by providing useful tools for the authorization procedures of small biomass gasification plants. Currently, 14 small scale gasification plants are operating or fully authorized in the region of South Tirol. During the preliminary screening the most frequent technological choices of the constructors are gasifiers from Spanner RE and Burkhardt. Until the end of the year approximately 35 plants are projected to be operational or authorized.