Leading olive oil producer Spain turns to olive stones for fuel

Farmer David Jimenez Zamora barely flinched when gas and electricity prices in Spain soared with the energy crisis. He kept heating the covered pool in the 18th century farmhouse he rents to tourists and the hot water running for as many as 26 guests at once without getting the terrifying energy bills hammering fellow Spaniards. His secret? Olive stones. "We use olive pits from our trees to heat the swimming pool, the underfloor heating system and get hot water," said the 48-year-old. "This is normally used from September onwards," he said, standing by a store holding 5,000 kilos of stones overlooking a sea of olive trees in the province of Granada, in the southern Andalusia region. Olive stones also power the machines producing Spain's famed "liquid gold" olive oil at two agricultural cooperatives he's part of. Solar panels cover the rest of their energy needs. The use of pits to fuel boilers in homes and small enterprises, mills and even flights in Spain's olive-growing heartland shows the role the industry and the country's vast agricultural sector can play in helping decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors, like aviation. Using stones as biomass isn't new in olive-producing countries like Spain and Italy. However, the energy shock following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Europe's decarbonisation push and the olive oil industry's struggles in recent years with fluctuating prices have sparked renewed interest in getting maximum value out of the crop, farmers and industry groups said. Spain's olive oil industry is also a natural ally for companies like Repsol and Cepsa, which are investing heavily to boost capacity to turn organic waste into biofuels. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil, accounting for up to half of the global output in recent years, 80% of that from Andalusia. In the ten years through 2019, the country accounted on average for over half of Europe's stock of olive stones, Spanish biomass association Avebiom estimates. - Report from Reuters