Knocks on wood

Life is hard and getting harder for biomass, says Jeremy Bowden.

Over the summer the government introduced stricter sustainability criteria for biomass plants, and firmed up plans to cap support for new plants at 400MW, unless they incorporate combined heat and power (CHP). Experts say neither of these policies will significantly reduce the volume of imported biomass feedstock from the US – a concern for some environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The 400MW cap is, however, expected to cut the amount of new-build biomass coming on stream by at least 500MW in the near term, according to the Renewable Energy Association (REA) – and by considerably more than that if the government excludes new biomass from its contract for difference (CfD) scheme beginning in 2017, a move the REA strongly opposes.

According to a recent report by Frost & Sullivan, up to 2.5GW of new biomass plant was expected online in the UK by 2017. But the report’s author, Ashay Abbhi, now says that will be “significantly less”. A spokesperson for the REA said that with a yawning supply gap fast approaching and with renewable targets to be met, it is capacity the government cannot afford to let go. “This is capacity that is ready to be built, whereas any energy security benefits which may arise from shale gas will not accrue until at least the mid-2020s,” says the REA.

 Justifying the decision, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) says that burning biomass in dedicated power stations offers poor value carbon savings compared with wind power or even gas, unless added CHP improves the picture.

The cap does not affect the much larger coal to biomass conversions, about 6GW, according to Frost & Sullivan’s Abbhi, of which about 1GW has already been converted (see table). A spokesperson for Drax, which is converting half its boilers, says the company welcomes the sustainability rules introduced in August because it has already been adhering to strict guidelines voluntarily.

From 2015, all biomass generators above 1MW must produce an annual sustainability report, along with an independent sustainability audit, and plants over 50MW must continue to demonstrate compliance to qualify for Renewables Obligation Certificates. Decc says the change will “help bring forward transitional biomass technologies such as coal to biomass conversions”.

In addition, to provide the certainty that investors and developers need, there will be no further unilateral changes to the sustainability criteria before April 2027, when subsidies for biomass burning in existing stations will end.

Some NGOs have attacked the practice of using imported biomass, but Drax, for instance, strongly defends importing biomass from the US. The company says UK biomass is not available in sufficient quantity, and in the US the timber industry creates vast volumes of waste biomass. The market there operates within a robust legal and regulatory framework.

The REA agrees and says NGOs should look at the detail of sustainability and not reject biomass altogether. “The criteria will ensure that only projects with strong ecological protections and high carbon savings can be supported under the Renewables Obligation,” it says.

The REA is also urging the government not to withdraw support for new biomass under the forthcoming CfD regime. Unlike other renewable technologies, a large proportion of the generators’ costs are fuel costs, which can vary over time. Whatever the decision on dedicated plants, once coal conversions are awarded Rocs they can not qualify for CfDs. Rocs, however, have a greater financial risk for generators because they do not vary with electricity price.

Decc is using a notification process to allocate places within the 400MW cap. Priority project application closed on 20 August, with other projects able to apply from 11 September. “In the wake of these rules, the focus will now shift to large-scale CHP installations instead of dedicated power plants,” says Abbhi.

The REA says that it supports CHP, but there are not always suitable customers for heat nearby, and that rejecting good biomass projects for that reason does not make sense.
Jeremy Bowden is a freelance journalist