Biomass and bioenergy advisory
and business development.
Your ambitions entrusted ... Hinterland Management delivers.
Feedstock origination · Investment structuring ·
Sustainability certification · Interim executive mandates
Hinterland Management delivers practical biomass and bioenergy advisory across Africa and Southeast Asia — from feedstock origination and investment due diligence through to sustainability certification, IPP development, and executive management support. Your ambitions are in capable hands with Hinterland Management. Work often begins in environments where not everything is neatly defined at the start. With a balanced mix of structure, flexibility, and practical judgement, the mandate can be shaped, the essential questions identified, and the work guided toward a reliable, evidence‑based conclusion.
Credentials
Co-founder Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) · 13 years ENGIE biomass upstream · 20+ African countries · 25+ years international experience · 6 board positions · Available for interim mandates
Biomass projects succeed when the feedstock, compliance case, and investment logic are built together from the start.
Hinterland helps clients test those fundamentals early, before capital is committed and assumptions become expensive.
Headline residue numbers, promising maps, and initial supplier conversations are useful starting points, but they do not yet prove a supply chain.
A biomass or bioenergy project becomes investable when the feedstock has been verified on the ground, the sustainability case can withstand regulatory and investor scrutiny, the logistics are physically workable, and thecommercial structure is bankable.
Hinterland Management works with developers, utilities, investors, governments and DFI-financed projects at the points where most biomass projects come unstuck.
Hinterland:
“…..the remote areas of a country away from the coast…..”
“….an area lying beyond what is visible or known…..”
Featured Case Studies
MAURITIUS — Government / ALSF / AfDB
Coal-to-biomass conversion · Active 2022–2026
- 3 operational IPPs assessed for coal phase-out
- Biomass feedstock portfolio structured and developed
- Wood‑chip supply origination from Southern Africa and local
- PPA negotiations and tariff pricing advisory
NAMIBIA — NamPower · 40MW Otjikoto Biomass Power Station
Fuel strategy and supply chain design · 2020–2021
- First biomass power plant in Namibia · Now under construction
- Encroacher bush fuel supply strategy for 50+ smallholder suppliers
- Fuel supply agreement assessment and supply chain design
- Biomass feedstock qualification across semi-arid catchment
IVORY COAST — Undisclosed
Technical DD · 76 MW Biomass Power Project · May 2026
- 76 MW baseload biomass IPP near Divo — largest in West Africa
- Cocoa pod husks from 36,000 smallholder farmers as feedstock
- 8 Primary Processing Platforms (PPFs) for drying and pre-processing
- Technical DD covering feedstock supply chain, plant design, logistics and supply contracting
UGANDA — Climate Fund Managers · Biomass CHP · 2022–2023
The Hague-based blended finance fund · Brewery project
- HFO boiler replacement to biomass under EaaS structure
- Biomass supply chain risk assessment (Get.Invest / Xylo Group)
- Biomass supply contracting for CHP supply to local brewery
- Two sequential assignments from feasibility through to contracting
Three Service Pillars
Feedstock origination and investment advisory
Is the resource real, accessible, and aggregable? Can the investment case survive board, lender, and DFI scrutiny?
Hinterland delivers ground-level origination, feasibility studies, due diligence, JV structuring, and funding support across Africa and Southeast Asia.
Sustainability and certification
Can the supply chain carry SBP, FSC, GGL, RED III, and EUDR scrutiny? Hinterland brings standards knowledge from the inside — co-founder of the Sustainable Biomass Partnership — to structure certification pathways, GHG assessments, and compliance evidence.
Interim executive mandates
Some projects need an experienced commercial executive embedded for a defined period — with accountability for commercial outcomes rather than advice from outside. Hinterland's Managing Director is available for interim CCO, Commercial Director, Sustainability Director, and Country Director assignments, preference for Africa and Southeast Asia, 3–6 months.
About
Maarten J. Gnoth
Managing Director, Hinterland Management BVHinterland Management was founded by Maarten Gnoth following 13 years at ENGIE managing the company's global biomass upstream portfolio and a further six years of independent advisory work across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
Maarten co-founded the Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) as vice-chairman — the international certification standard now used by all major European utilities under RED III. He has held director positions on six producing energy asset boards across Canada, Australia, and Cameroon.
The practice is founder-led. Every mandate is delivered by Maarten directly — not delegated to junior staff.
Working with defined mandates
Hinterland’s work is delivered through clear, structured engagements. Origination insights, feedstock assessments, supply‑chain studies, due‑diligence reviews, investment structuring, and sustainability advisory are all available — carried out directly by Maarten Gnoth, with the depth and rigour these topics deserve. Each engagement is scoped, documented, and priced to reflect the analysis and dedicated time involved.
The purpose is straightforward: to help clients make decisions grounded in evidence — whether that concerns a feedstock go/no‑go, an investment choice, a supply agreement, or an executive appointment.
Most mandates are well‑defined from the start. When they are not, Maarten is flexible and comfortable working through early‑stage questions, shaping the scope as the situation becomes clearer. This allows clients to move forward even when the path is still emerging.
A good mandate sets out the geography, the feedstock or investment question, the decision to be made, and a budget that enables the work to be done properly.