Around the world but, particularly in advanced European countries forest, biomass is an ever growing and important renewable energy source.  It utilises residues that would otherwise be wasted or used for pulp production.  The public and political parties of all persuasions supported this end use and it is partly subsidised by governments.

This contrasts markedly with Australia where forest residue use for energy is insignificant, even though a significant amount of harvesting and processing residues are currently burnt in the open or dumped in landfills.  PFT has actively participated in bringing awareness of the huge potential of biomass to Tasmanians and the concept is now gradually gaining support.

To assist project developers and investors in wood processing projects, Private Forests Tasmania has recognised that there is a need for them to know where the privately owned forest based feedstock is concentrated and its availability over time.   The 2012 Resourcing Model provides a quantitative basis for choosing possible plant locations for further evaluation.  Using GIS modelling techniques, it maps Tasmanian privately owned land on a 5 X 5 km grid the minimum wood catchment size at each point required to maintain a nominated annual supply of feedstock for a processing plant with a nominated effective plant life.