Global Bioenergy Power Tracker Methodology

This article is part of the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

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Architecture

Global Energy Monitor’s Global Bioenergy Power Tracker uses a two-level system for organizing information, consisting of both a database and wiki pages with further information. The database tracks individual bioenergy power units and includes information such as project owner, status, and location. A wiki page for each facility is created within the Global Energy Monitor wiki. The database and wiki pages are updated annually.

Inclusion Criteria

The Global Bioenergy Power Tracker tracks utility-scale bioenergy power station units with capacities of 10 megawatts (MW) or more globally. The tracker includes every bioenergy unit at the 20 MW capacity threshold for operating, announced, pre-construction and in-construction power station units. In some cases, units may combust multiple fuel sources in addition to bioenergy. The tracker’s definition of bioenergy draws from the chapter “Bioenergy” in the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (2011).

Status Categories

• Announced: Proposed projects that have been described in corporate or government plans  but have not yet taken concrete steps such as applying for permits.
• Pre-construction: Projects that are actively moving forward in seeking governmental approvals, land rights, or financing. Construction: Site preparation and equipment installation are underway.
• Operating: The project has been formally commissioned; commercial operation has begun.
• Shelved: Suspension of the project operation has been announced.
• Shelved - inferred 2 y: The project is inferred to be shelved because, or no progress has been observed for at least two years.
• Cancelled: A cancellation announcement has been made.
• Cancelled - inferred 4 y: The project is inferred to be cancelled because, or no progress has been observed for at least four years.
• Retired: The project has been decommissioned.
• Mothballed: The project is disused, but not dismantled.

Research Process

The Global Bioenergy Power Tracker data set draws on various public data sources, including:

• Government data on individual bioenergy power facilities (such as the U.S. EIA 860 Electric Generator Inventory), country energy and resource plans, and government websites tracking bioenergy power facility permits and applications;
• Reports by state-owned and private power companies;
• News and media reports;
• Local non-governmental organizations tracking power stations or permits.
• Non--governmental organizations tracking bioenergy power facilities or permits (such as Trend Asia, Mighty Earth, South Korea For Our Climate, Friends of the Earth Japan, and the Environmental Paper Network).

A partial list of data sources can be found here.

Global Energy Monitor researchers perform data validation by comparing our dataset against proprietary and public data such as S&P Global’s World Energy Power Plant database and the World Resource Institute’s Global Power Plant Database, as well as various company and government sources.

Wiki Pages

For each bioenergy power station, a wiki page is created on Global Energy Monitor’s wiki. Under standard wiki convention, all information is linked to a publicly-accessible published reference, such as a news article, company or government report, or a regulatory permit. In order to ensure data integrity in the open-access wiki environment, Global Energy Monitor researchers review all edits of project wiki pages.

Mapping

To allow easy public access to the results, Global Energy Monitor worked with GreenInfo Network to develop a map-based and table-based interface using the Leaflet Open-Source JavaScript library. In the case of exact coordinates, locations are either specifically identified on a mapping service such as Google Maps, Open Street Maps, etc., or gathered from company or government documentation. If the location of a power station or proposal is not known, Global Energy Monitor identifies the most accurate location possible based on available information.

Global Bioenergy Power Tracker Release Notes

September 2025

• This update covers all regions of the globe, and uses the United Nations’ Statistics Division definitions of region and subregion.
• This update includes lowering the global threshold to 20 MW, with information on units below the capacity threshold when readily available
  • Many countries now include power stations between 10-20 MW.
• “Bio-heavy oil” was added as a fuel type.
• New columns include: “Operator(s) GEM Entity ID”, “Owner(s) GEM Entity ID”, “Parent(s)”, and “Parent(s) GEM Entity ID”. For more information on ownership please see the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.
• Change in capitalization of column headers including: “Unit conversion year” to “Unit Conversion Year”
• The dataset now puts any below threshold projects into one “Data” tab instead of separating them.

September 2024

• This update covers all regions of the globe, and uses the United Nations’ Statistics Division definitions of region and subregion.
• Some units below the 30 MW global threshold are provided for some countries when the data was readily available.
  • South Korean data was collected in collaboration with South Korea For Our Climate
  • Japanese data was collected in collaboration with Friends of the Earth Japan
  • Below 30 MW data was collected for countries including South Korea, Japan, Colombia, China, the Dominican Republic, and Bahrain.
• The September 2024 release includes the change from the column name “Country” to “Country/Area”. The Country/Area column presents energy data within various economic contexts, and the geographical unit does not strictly follow political boundaries.
• Subnational location names for China have been standardized.
• A new data field has been added to indicate when a project phase is slated for hydrogen production.
• GEM ID formats have changed from an L2+5 digit number to L1+11 digit number for location IDs and a G2+5 digit number to a G1+11 digit number. Previous GEM ID numbers have been preserved. For example, a previous GEM ID of L212345 is now L100000812345
• Shelved and cancelled statuses have been broken down into two subcategories depending on if there was an announcement of delay or cancellation, or if the status is inferred by lack of observed progress.
• Change in capitalization of column headers including: “Project name” to “Project Name, “Unit name” to “Unit Name”, “Project name in local language / script” to “Project Name in Local Language / Script”, “Other name(s)” to “Other Name(s), “Location accuracy” to “Location Accuracy”, “Retired year” to “Retired Year”, “Local area (taluk, county)” to “Local Area (taluk, county)”, “Major area (prefecture, district)” to “Major Area (prefecture, district)”, “GEM location ID” to “GEM Location ID”, and “GEM phase ID” to “GEM Phase ID”
• Change in column header from “Operating status” to “Status”, “Operator” to “Operator(s)”, “Operator name in local language / script” to “Operator Name(s) in Local Language / Script”, “Owner” to “Owner(s)”, “Owner name in local language / script” to “Owner Name(s) in Local Language / Script”, “Unit start year” to “Start Year”
• Fuel types are now in the Fuel column separated by semicolons.

November 2023

• This update covers all regions of the globe, as per United Nations’ region and subregion definitions.
• Some units below the 30 MW global threshold are provided for some countries when the data were readily available.
• Whereas the January 2023 release only included units located at power stations that do not burn or co-fire with non-bioenergy sources, this release includes units that cofire bioenergy fuel sources alongside other types of fuel, as well as units that burn bioenergy fuel sources at power stations with other units that burn other types of fuel.
• Whereas the January 2023 release only included a “Start year” column, the November 2023 release now includes a “Unit conversion year” column as well as a “Unit start year” column. The November 2023 release “Unit start year” column replaces the January 2023 release’s “Start year” column.
• The November 2023 release includes a “Date last researched” column. This is a new addition to the tracker.
• The November 2023 release includes some case changes to the column headers in the downloadable dataset.

January 2023

Global Energy Monitor releases the first version of the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker.