Martin Englisch reflects on the origin of ENplus® and the scheme’s impact today
Over the past decade and a half, ENplus® has grown from an ambitious idea into the world’s most influential certification scheme for wood pellets. Few people have witnessed this transformation as closely as our colleague – Martin Englisch from BEA Institut für Bioenergie GmbH.
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When did you first become involved with the ENplus® certification scheme and what has your experience with it been like in the past 15 years?
I became involved with the ENplus® certification scheme around 16 years ago, at a time when ENplus® itself did not yet formally exist. I was part of the team working on the development of a new, harmonized certification system intended to replace the various national standards and schemes that had been established in leading pellet markets such as Austria, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and France.
In 2010, the first ENplus® handbook was developed based on the relatively new European standards (EN) for solid biofuels. At that time, international ISO standards for pellets had not yet been established; these were developed later, largely building on the success and acceptance of the European standards.
While ENplus® is now a well-established system that is continuously improved through the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders and technical experts, the first version of the scheme was developed under rather improvised conditions. Together with Christian Rakos —now President of the World Biomass Association — I travelled to the United States to generate interest among major US pellet producers and encourage them to support the emerging ENplus® system. During this trip, which took us from Georgia to North Carolina, we jointly drafted key elements of the handbook. I did the driving while Christian typed on a laptop. This draft was subsequently released as one of the earliest versions of the ENplus® handbook.
To establish a professional and credible auditing system, the first ENplus® auditor training was organized in 2011. I coordinated this training in Austria in cooperation with Holzforschung Austria and VTT Finland. The initiative was supported by the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy Europe programme. Due to its success, this marked the beginning of a structured and continuous auditor training scheme, which remains mandatory to this day. The next training, scheduled for April 2026, will be the 32nd ENplus® auditor training conducted.
If you have to compare the pellet market back in the days and now, how has ENplus® changed it?
Today, ENplus® is a globally recognized certification scheme. In many markets, it is perceived as the de facto standard for residential pellets, making ENplus® certification a basic prerequisite. Undoubtedly, it has significantly contributed to improving pellet quality in all major markets for residential pellets.
However, this success has also created a new challenge.
As ENplus® is now regarded as a minimum requirement for any serious producer, it has become increasingly difficult to use the certification to demonstrate superior quality. This opens the door for companies building own and mostly local trade marks without ENplus® and additional, more ambitious certification or quality systems that aim to differentiate them from competitors, potentially leading to renewed market fragmentation.
Historically, certification schemes were often designed to protect specific markets for a limited number of producers, often as a result of national or regional protectionist approaches. Such tendencies seem to be resurfacing internationally. ENplus® has deliberately tried to counteract this trend by incorporating pellets from various regions into a single, harmonized system, thereby supporting the development of pellets as a standardized commodity.
At the same time, this approach places considerable pressure on producers who do not have access to high-quality raw materials or state-of-the-art production facilities.
What is the biggest challenge for the pellet producers and traders today?
Pellets have clearly developed into a global commodity. Prices are formed in key international markets and have a strong influence on regional price levels. In contrast, raw material availability and costs remain largely regional and depend on many factors, of which pellet production is only one.
This imbalance can lead to situations where pellet production in certain regions and at certain times is no longer economically viable. Nevertheless, producers and traders are often forced to continue supplying their customers in order to maintain market presence and secure long-term raw material access. This creates highly challenging commercial conditions.
From a producer’s perspective, the availability, price, and quality of raw materials represent the primary challenge. Traders, on the other hand, must manage significant fluctuations between supply and demand, which can vary considerably from year to year. Adequate storage capacities are therefore essential, but they require substantial investment and increase overall costs.
A particular risk arises when producers selling directly to end customers—or traders with insufficient storage capacity—offer lower prices. This puts pressure on established traders to reduce costs, often by cutting storage capacity, which ultimately jeopardizes security of supply and market stability. Clear and enforceable storage requirements could be part of the solution.
Looking ahead to the future and stepping on your experience today, what does the European pellet market look like to you in 5 years’ time?
I am optimistic and expect to see continued market growth. Pellets offer a relatively low-cost, convenient, highly efficient and sustainable heating solution. These advantages should be more strongly acknowledged by policymakers, stakeholders, and NGOs as part of the broader energy transition.
A key task for the coming years will be to increase acceptance of pellets with slightly different quality parameters, such as higher ash contents (ENplus® A2). This is essential in order to broaden the raw material base, given that raw material availability is likely to become a limiting factor in the near future.
To address this challenge, Europe will need to utilize a wider range of locally available biomass resources. This will help support regional pellet production, strengthen supply security, and reduce dependency on a limited number of feedstocks.