RBCN Founded to Strengthen Biomass Sector in Netherlands

The RBCN Foundation (Rotterdam Biomass Commodities Network) has been established to strengthen and promote the Dutch bioenergy sector and biobased economy.

It is an initiative by the business community and brings together traders, producers, logistic service providers, consumers and other businesses that are active in the biomass supply chain.

RBCN commits itself to develop and capitalize the opportunities for the industry of a sustainable energy supply and production of biomaterials.

RBCN has the ambition to be a recognisable and acknowledged business platform of the bioenergy and biobased economy.

It organises network meetings, initiates collaborations with (inter-)national sector organizations, promotes information exchange and acts as representative and interest group of the industry.

The RBCN board consists of five representatives from RWE/Essent, Eneco, EBS Bulk Services, CKade en BFP International.

Chairman of the Foundation is Peter Paul Schouwenberg said: "The establishment of the RBCN Foundation is important for organising the industry that devotes itself to the use of renewable biomass for a sustainable energy supply and production of biomaterials.

"RBCN wants to be a recognisable and acknowledged business platform delivering valuable contributions in realizing the opportunities for a sustainable society."
 

Peter - Paul Schouwenberg has a legal and business administration background and currently working as Senior Officier Regulatory Affairs and Project Manager Biobased Economy within Essent. Previously Peter-Paul was Vice-President Biofuels & Development within Essent Trading International SA in Geneva, and for more than 10 years responsible for the sourcing, trading and development of biomass (solids and liquids) on a global scale. Due to his leadership Essent became one of the authorities in the biomass market.
He developed furthermore an unique track and trace system, which can be used worldwide in the discussions regarding the sustainability of biomass. Furthermore he was one of the initiators of the standard Gafta (trading) contract for Biomass and the introduction of a forward curve for woodpellets. He was also involved in the development of several new (bio)fuels for the production of sustainable green electricity. The most important one, a worldwide primeur, was the development of a fair-trade coffeehuskpellet in Brazil. For this project he received the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America's) Sustainability Award.