Methodology for strengthening energy resilience with SMART solution approach of rural areas: Local production of alternative biomass fuel within renewable energy community

The article presents a proposal for a comprehensive methodology for the design of the process of local production of alternative energy fuel. The goal of the methodology is to ensure a local source of renewable fuel (biomass) for the needs of covering the supply of thermal energy to citizens in rural areas. In the first part, the methodology deals with the issue of sustainable cultivation of energy crops, namely short rotation coppice and its appropriate placement on soil blocks which are threatened by erosion or degraded by intensive agriculture. Subsequently, the local energy community independently produces alternative pellet biofuel, from the initial cultivation of young woody plants to the final production of ecological wood-based fuel with a calorific value of 16 MJ/ kg. The proposed innovative method of heat production leads to environmental benefits, energy savings, reduced payments for energy supply, and overall modernization of the technologies used. & COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).