Pellet promotion in the Finnish sawmilling industry: The cost-effectiveness of different policy instruments

The demand for wood fuels is increasing as several countries have targets for different types of wood-based energy, e.g. pellets. Sawmills are a source for wood fuels since they can refine their by-products into energy products. We present a model of a profit-maximizing sawmill, and analyze the production and investment decisions of thirty large-scale Finnish sawmills. The model allows the investigation of required policy incentives that enable sawmills to realize the production targets set for pellets. We analyze the policy costs of the investment, production and input subsidies. We found that the production subsidy is an efficient policy instrument.