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Surge predicted in UK biomass plants
18/05/2009
Last month the UK energy department announced generous subsidies for companies that produce power using biomass — plant and organic waste — instead of coal or gas. The result is a spike in the number of new biomass plants being proposed for construction.
To power a spate of biomass plants would require far more fuel (e.g. straw, forestry scraps and elephant grass) than is currently available in Britain. Energy experts predict that, to fill the gap, there will be a surge in exports of everything from Canadian wood chips to palm-oil residue from Indonesia and olive stones from Greece.
Some experts are arguing that the C02 emitted by transporting this waste across the world would be likely to cancel out any energy savings achieved by the biomass power plants. It may also be necessary to use fertilisers to grow some of the fuel, which would again result in C02 emissions. A recent report for the Environment Agency concluded that shipping could potentially hamper biomass carbon-dioxide reductions by up to 50%.
Currently the small number of biomass plants in the UK generate less than 1% of the country’s power – approximately 250MW. According to Ernst & Young, companies have in the past few months received planning consent for, or proposed, facilities that would generate another 2.5GW — a tenfold increase in capacity.
Perhaps the answer then is to use biomass-powered ships!
To power a spate of biomass plants would require far more fuel (e.g. straw, forestry scraps and elephant grass) than is currently available in Britain. Energy experts predict that, to fill the gap, there will be a surge in exports of everything from Canadian wood chips to palm-oil residue from Indonesia and olive stones from Greece.
Some experts are arguing that the C02 emitted by transporting this waste across the world would be likely to cancel out any energy savings achieved by the biomass power plants. It may also be necessary to use fertilisers to grow some of the fuel, which would again result in C02 emissions. A recent report for the Environment Agency concluded that shipping could potentially hamper biomass carbon-dioxide reductions by up to 50%.
Currently the small number of biomass plants in the UK generate less than 1% of the country’s power – approximately 250MW. According to Ernst & Young, companies have in the past few months received planning consent for, or proposed, facilities that would generate another 2.5GW — a tenfold increase in capacity.
Perhaps the answer then is to use biomass-powered ships!
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