Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Biomass and Bioenergy 26 (2004) 15–25 Optimizing forest biomass exploitation for energy supply at a regional level DavideFreppaz b ,RiccardoMinciardi a; b ,MichelaRobba b; * ,MauroRovatti a; c , RobertoSacile a; b ,AngelaTaramasso a; d a CIMA, Interuniversity Center for Environmental Monitoring, Via Cadorna 7, 17100 Savona, Italy b DIST, Department of Communication, Computer and System Sciences, University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 13, 16145 Genova, Italy c DICHEP, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy d DIAM, Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Genova, Via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genova, Italy Received 3 July 2002; received in revised form 4 April 2003; accepted 25 April 2003 Abstract A decision support system for forest biomass exploitation for energy production purposes is presented. In the proposed approach, geographic information system based techniques are integrated with mathematical programming methods to yield a comprehensive system that allows the formalisation of the problem, decision taking, and evaluation of eects. The aim of this work is to assess the possibility of biomass exploitation for both thermal and electric energy production in a given area, while relating this use to an ecient and sustainable management of the forests within the same territory. The decision support system allows for the locating of plants and the computing of their optimal sizing (dening which kind of energy is convenient to produce for the specic area), taking into account several aspects (economic, technical, regulatory, and social) anddecidinghowtoplanbiomasscollectionandharvesting.AcasestudyappliedtoasmallItalianmountainareaispresented. ? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Decision support systems; Renewable energy; Biomass exploitation; Geographic information system; Optimization; Regional energy planning 1. Introduction Biomass exploitation plays an important role in the production of energy from renewable sources. There are reports in the literature on practical expe- riences of realizing this potential [1–5]. Quantitative analyses of strategies for utilizing biomass energy sources have been performed both evaluating the po- tential resources of bioenergy in dierent countries * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-010-353-2804 (2748); fax: +39-010-353-2154. E-mail address: michela@dist.unige.it (M. Robba). (forest-rich regions, nations with agricultural-land surplus) [6] or matching the woody biomass de- mand and supply with forestry industries in Europe [7]. The same works, however, fail to propose a systematic approach to dene the actual availability of energy from biomass. At present, a comprehen- sive approach to biomass exploitation is required for regions where other kinds of energy are di- cult to exploit or where the use of biomass could decrease environmental pollution and enhance re- gional welfare, e.g., by providing local employ- ment opportunities or improving environmental preservation. 0961-9534/04/$-see front matter ? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0961-9534(03)00079-5