Exploring the Determinants of Emerging Bioenergy Market Participation

Individual biomass producers will play a strong role in the emergence of robust and sustainable bioenergy markets. Substantial, but fragmented research on what drives their participation exists. Through narrative review and network analysis, a new review of the bioenergy market participation literature in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews generates both an increased appreciation of how bioenergy market participation is assessed in existing research and how social network analysis may be further employed as a tool for literature review. The analysis reaches two central conclusions: 1) A variety of non-production objectives, structural and social constraints, and market-related attributes influence bioenergy market participation decisions, and 2) Assessment of these factors varies significantly across the literature for both user group and feedstock type. These findings collectively suggest that there may not be a single agreed-upon methodology for assessing bioenergy market participation. Furthermore, if the user group- and feedstock-specific differences found across the literature are indicative of fundamentally different socio-economic conditions in their respective markets, then policies specific to individual markets may be more effective in encouraging participation than uniform national policy initiatives.