ENplus expects to certify more than 14 million tonnes of pellets this year

ENplus, a leading certification scheme that guarantees high-quality wood pellets, foresees certification of more than 14 million tonnes of pellets in 2021.

The total production of certified pellets in 2020 is confirmed to be 12.3 million tonnes.

The record volumes are a result of the scheme’s continual expansion and the growing number of certified companies. ENplus announced a month ago that the list with active certificates now includes more than 1,100 pellet producers, traders, and services providers in 47 different countries. Although most of the newly certified companies are located in countries such as Poland, Ukraine and Russia, pellet businesses in South America have expressed an increasing interest in the scheme.

Germany remained the biggest producer of ENplus-certified pellets in 2020, with more than three million tonnes while Austria ranked second, followed by Russia. Poland was fourth, moving ahead of France and Spain. All countries among the top six have increased their certified production, compared with the previous year, with France being the lone exception.

“We continue to observe a strong demand for certification coming from most countries in Europe,” Catalina-Elena Dumitru, the scheme’s director, said. “According to the latest data that we have, the ENplus-certified production accounts for more than 85 per cent of the pellet volumes in at least 10 European countries. Given the circumstances around the pandemic and the national programs encouraging for a transition towards greener energy, it should be expected that many more end-users will look for high-quality pellets, which is a promising forecast for the certification’s future.”

ENplus management continues to allocate significant resources in combating fraud so that the value of the certification seal remains protected over time. As of April 2021, close to 740 fraud cases have been identified and solved. To help end-users identify fraudulent companies, a blacklist is kept up-to-date on the scheme’s website.

ENplus has been unable to proceed with the normal organization of its regular trainings for certified companies and partners since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that the quality managers of the certified companies are properly trained and have the knowledge to supervise the quality management system in place, an e-learning platform was developed and launched.

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