Biomass Practice Group
Integrated strategic, financial and transactional advisory for biomass and bioeconomy projects worldwide
DWG Next’s Biomass Practice Group advises corporate, institutional and public-sector clients worldwide across the full spectrum of biomass-related technologies and their transformation products, including bioenergy, biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials.
Our practice combines:
deep sector knowledge and market intelligence;
strategic and transactional expertise;
legal, tax and corporate finance capabilities; and
an extensive network within the European and international biomass community.
We support clients throughout the entire life cycle of biomass ventures: from the assessment and valorisation of green technologies to the structuring, financing, execution and long-term strategic support of complex transactions.
Through our relationships with ETA-Florence Renewable Energies and the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA), we mobilise, under a single mandate, the legal, financial, technical and policy expertise required for sophisticated biomass and bioeconomy projects.
Where regulated legal services are required, DWG Next works in coordination with duly qualified law firms within the DWG ecosystem, ensuring seamless execution while remaining fully compliant with applicable professional regulations.
The Practice Group benefits from the involvement of senior biomass and agri-business professionals, including Gerardo Patacconi, whose international experience further strengthens the Group’s industry and policy expertise.
What We Handle
Transaction Structuring and Finance
Structuring and execution of corporate and project finance transactions across the biomass sector, including biomass-to-energy, biofuels, biochemicals, and waste-to-value projects to ensure bankability and investor readiness.
Technology Assessment and Validation
Strategic Commercialisation and Expansion
Strategic advice on the commercialisation, licensing, and international expansion of green technologies, covering M&A transactions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and fund-raising activities.
Independent technological assessment and validation of biomass technologies, alongside financial appraisal of green technologies, businesses, and project pipelines to support informed investment decisions.
Risk Identification and Regulatory Assessment
Identification and allocation of technological, regulatory, commercial, and financial risks, combined with regulatory and policy assessment relating to biomass and bioeconomy investments.
Commercial Agreements and Contracts
Negotiation of key commercial agreements, including feedstock supply, offtake, EPC, and operations and maintenance contracts, to underpin project execution and long-term performance.
Access to Funding Programmes
Support in accessing European and international funding programmes, including Horizon Europe, the Innovation Fund, and REPowerEU, to mobilise public and blended finance for green projects.
Why DWG Next?
Giovannella D'Andrea
Harold Wouters
Angela Grassi
Gerardo Patacconi
Biomass and wider bioeconomy projects succeed when technology, feedstock, regulation, and capital are aligned within a coherent structure. DWG Next’s Biomass Practice Group unites senior corporate finance and legal advisers with biomass engineers, technology validation experts, and policy specialists from ETA‑Florence Renewable Energies and the European Biomass Industry Association under a single coordinated platform, giving clients access to the full ecosystem they require through one mandate. This integrated model allows us to structure and finance bankable biomass to energy, biofuels, biochemicals, and waste to value projects, while securing access to European and international funding programmes such as Horizon Europe, the Innovation Fund, and REPowerEU and positioning projects credibly with strategic and institutional investors.
Giovannella is an Italian senior lawyer with more than 30 years of EU and international regulatory and transactional experience across energy, climate and industrial projects, including biomass and wider bioeconomy investments. She has advised over 40 governments, EU institutions and international organisations on legislative reform, sustainable finance, and project structuring that enables large scale deployment of renewable and low carbon technologies. A pioneer in Kyoto Protocol mechanisms and climate finance, she has extensive experience with Green, Social and Sustainable Bonds and impact investment vehicles used to finance biomass to energy and circular bioeconomy projects. Within the Biomass Practice Group she leads on regulatory architecture, EU policy alignment and transaction structuring for complex bioenergy, biofuels and biochemicals platforms.
Gerardo is a senior biomass and agri‑business professional with extensive international experience in primary production, processing industries and commodity value chains. He has advised governments, development institutions and private sector actors on industrial policy, value addition and sustainable agri‑business models that underpin feedstock security for biomass and bioeconomy projects. His work strengthens the Biomass Practice Group’s capacity to link project structuring with real world supply, logistics and market dynamics across agriculture and forestry. Within DWG Next he focuses on strategy, policy and partnership development for biomass platforms that operate at regional and global scale.
Angela is Managing Director of ETA‑Florence Renewable Energies and has more than 20 years of experience in the renewable energy sector with a strong focus on biomass and the bioeconomy. She has coordinated the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition since 2000 and has managed hundreds of international renewable energy and biomass projects for the European Commission and other institutions. Her expertise covers project development, market deployment, and policy support for biomass technologies, along with communication and knowledge transfer across the global biomass community. Within the Biomass Practice Group she leads on technology validation, EU project interfaces and the integration of engineering and market intelligence into transactions.
Managing Partner
Head of Biomass Practice, Managing Partner
Partner
Global Strategy Advisor, Agri-Business Industry
Over three decades, Harold has built a rare convergence of legal, financial and strategic expertise at the heart of the bio-based economy. His practice spans the full biomass value chain (bioenergy, waste-to-energy, biomass supply structures, carbon finance, biochemicals and circular economy projects) combining transactional depth with sector-specific insight that few practitioners can match. His long-standing role with the European Biomass Industry Association, where he has served as both board member and legal counsel, gives him direct access to the technologies, market dynamics and regulatory forces reshaping the European and global bioeconomy: an advantage he brings directly to client mandates. Harold has contributed to several European Commission programmes and international initiatives in bioenergy and sustainable technologies, among them the Latin America Thematic Network on Bioenergy and major EU-China cooperation programmes on bioethanol and biomass valorisation. He has led high-level negotiations between European and Chinese institutions on large-scale bioenergy development, and is a recognised speaker at international conferences on bioenergy financing, project structuring and carbon markets.
Selected Projects
Universal Biocarbon Inc.
Conversion of green waste into biocarbon products, including the structuring of a carbon‑negative, tipping‑fee based revenue model.
Bio4A
Industrial scale Horizon 2020 BIO4A project on sustainable aviation fuel from residual lipids, validating the full HEFA value chain and logistics under real market conditions in Europe.
BECOOL
Development of integrated lignocellulosic biomass supply systems combining dedicated annual and perennial crops with agricultural residues, designed to maximise feedstock availability while minimising competition with food production.
GreenFlexJET
Pre-commercial demonstration of sustainable aviation fuel production from diverse organic waste feedstocks, using green hydrogen derived from waste in the refining process to maximise greenhouse gas savings at local scale.
Our Insights
Our Unique Biomass Ecosystem
European Biomass Industry Association
Founded in Brussels in 1996, EUBIA is a leading European association representing companies, research institutes and universities active in the biomass and bioeconomy sectors. Through EUBIA, our clients benefit from direct access to European biomass stakeholders, EU policy developments and international cooperation opportunities across the bioeconomy sector.
ETA Florence Renewable Energies
How We Work
Mandates are generally structured around a combination of monthly retainers and transaction-based success fees. External specialists approved by the client, including appraisers, technical consultants and legal counsel, may be engaged where required.
In selected situations, the Biomass Practice Group may also accept part of its compensation in equity, aligning its long-term interests with those of its clients.
Beyond direct advisory mandates, the Practice Group also acts as a referral and structuring platform for international investors, specialised investment funds and strategic partnerships within the global biomass sector.
The Biomass Practice Group combines the capabilities of DWG Next’s multidisciplinary advisory team, the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA), and ETA Florence Renewable Energies. This integrated platform gives clients access, through a single point of contact, to senior corporate finance professionals, legal advisors, biomass engineers, technology validation experts and policy specialists active across the European and international bioeconomy sector. The Biomass Practice Group operates within the broader context of the global energy transition and circular bioeconomy.
ETA Florence Renewable Energies, founded in 1994, is a leading renewable energy engineering and consultancy firm specialised in the development and market deployment of renewable energy technologies. ETA-Florence has managed more than 400 international projects, many for the European Commission, and organises the annual European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE).
