The UK’s enterprise secretary has admitted that importing US-made wooden pellets to be burnt for power by energy firm Drax isn’t sustainable and “doesn’t make any sense”.
Kwasi Kwarteng additionally advised MPs that the federal government had not totally investigated the sustainability of burning wooden pellets, a sort of biomass. He stated the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had mentioned biomass with trade however “we haven’t actually questioned some of the premises” of the sustainability of pellets.
The authorities has spent hundreds of thousands subsidising the burning of pellets in Drax’s Yorkshire facility over the previous decade and the gasoline options prominently within the UK’s internet zero technique.
Kwarteng made the feedback this week throughout a gathering with a bunch of cross-party backbench MPs, who raised considerations concerning the sustainability of wooden pellets, that are described as renewable by Drax.
“There’s no point getting [wood pellets] from Louisiana . . . that isn’t sustainable,” stated Kwarteng. Shipping pellets from Louisiana — one among Drax’s sourcing areas within the US — has “a huge cost financially and environmentally . . . [it] doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” he added.
Drax has been progressively changing its coal-fired energy station to biomass energy and is in search of to reinvent itself as a inexperienced power firm. The firm, which imports about 80 per cent of the wooden pellets it makes use of within the plant from North America, acquired round £832mn in authorities subsidies in 2020 and about £790mn in 2019, in accordance with evaluation by think-tank Ember.
That assist is because of expire in 2027, however the firm is in search of new subsidies for the event of biomass paired with carbon seize and storage know-how, often called Beccs.
Drax argues that its pellets are responsibly sourced and that the emissions produced by their combustion are offset by the expansion of recent carbon-absorbing bushes.
However, quite a few environmental teams and scientists have questioned these claims. They argue that it takes a very long time for bushes to soak up carbon, that importing pellets is emissions-intensive and that the large-scale harvesting of wooden threatens ecosystems.
In January, David Joffe of the Climate Change Committee, which advises the federal government, stated there have been “big challenges about ensuring the sustainability of biomass grown outside the UK”. He added that imported biomass was “not something that the UK should be relying on at large scale”. However, the committee has harassed the necessity for some biomass power if the UK is to succeed in its goal of internet zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Allies of Kwarteng confirmed that he had raised considerations about Drax’s use of pellets imported from the US. But he was stated by colleagues to stay totally supportive of the corporate and the biomass sector, which they stated was an important baseload supplier for the UK energy community.
“Without Drax, the UK would have to import more electricity from Europe at a time when the continent is in serious trouble,” stated a authorities official.
In the assembly with MPs, Kwarteng admitted that biomass had not developed as shortly as different renewable fuels, reminiscent of offshore wind and hydrogen.
“I can well see a point where we just draw the line and say [biomass] isn’t working, this doesn’t help carbon emission reduction and so we should end it,” he stated. “All I’m saying is that we haven’t quite reached that point yet.”
The authorities’s internet zero technique envisages that the usage of Beccs would account for two-thirds of so-called “negative emissions” — or applied sciences that take away carbon from the ambiance — within the UK by 2050.
It has dedicated £1bn for the event of a carbon seize sector, together with £30mn to assist the manufacturing of “sustainable domestic biomass.” The enterprise division additionally stated it might “develop markets and incentives” to assist funding in emissions elimination applied sciences together with Beccs
“The business secretary has always been clear biomass has a key role to play in boosting Britain’s energy security,” stated a authorities spokesperson. “The UK government only supports biomass which complies with our strict sustainability criteria and will shortly publish our biomass strategy which will further detail our position on its future use.”
A Drax spokesperson stated the corporate “is one of Europe’s lowest carbon intensity power generators and our sustainable biomass is critical to UK energy security, supplying enough reliable renewable electricity to keep the lights on for 4mn households”.
Source: www.ft.com