UK looking wrong way for renewable target solutions

By Elisabeth Jeffries

Date: 27/05/04

THE UK is not taking full advantage of one of the more easily accessible, low technology solutions to meeting its renewable energy targets, according to the report produced by an environmental research body, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, this month.

"There is no fundamental reason why the UK biomass industry should not follow the route that has proved to be successful in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Austria", states the Biomass as a renewable energy resource report.

Despite its widespread existence, the production of energy from biomass has tended to be overlooked in the public eye in many countries, perhaps overshadowed by the faster growth in wind, wave and other renewable technologies. This is surprising given its reliability as a source of renewable energy.

Originating primarily from forest industry by-products, energy crops such as willow or poplar and agricultural residues such as straw, it is free of the fluctuation problem that has caused headaches in wind energy planning, for example, because it can be stored and used on demand.

In addition, it is highly flexible and can easily be applied on a small local scale, mainly for heat. It can also be used in larger power-generation capacity, while producing heat at the same time.

Economic studies have shown that it is not usually viable as a source of power only - this is particularly true of wood-based biomass plants.

Woody biomass particularly has the image of a traditional industry and is a well-established source of energy. According to Eurobarometer figures, 51% of EU primary energy resulting from renewable energies originated from the wood energy sector in 2002. That compares with 4% for solar energy and 6% for geothermal energy.

Its hitherto quieter status is partly explained by the fact that a considerable proportion of wood heating does not pass through commercial channels, so that data have not always been easy to collect.

France is Europe's leading user of wood-based heating, with six million installations, most of which are used in domestic applications (only 10% is used by industry), while its neighbour the UK has the lowest level of integration of woody biomass energy. Sweden and Finland's forests have perhaps inevitably created a heavy dependency on woody biomass; Finland's wood energy sector covers 50% of the heating needs of its inhabitants and 20% of primary energy consumption.

In the words of a report recommending a renewable target of 20% by 2020, published by the European Renewable Energy Council at the beginning of the year, "there is a huge potential in Europe for biomass electricity which has not yet been sufficiently exploited".

It forecasts a doubling of the annual growth rate of biomass from 6.1% between 1995-2001 to 13.4% between 2001-10. By 2020 it predicts that biomass will have been leapfrogged by wind energy, with wind providing 444 TWh (terawatt hours, ie one billion kilowatt hours) compared to 282 TWh from biomass.

For heat purposes, though, the report predicts that biomass will still stand head and shoulders above other renewable sources by 2020, producing 100 mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) compared to its nearest rival, solar thermal energy which will be producing 25 mtoe, according to the report. Its progress will have been made possible by investments worth approximately 89 billion by 2020 partially offset by avoided fuel and external costs.

For the UK, that investment would need to start happening quickly. According to the Royal Commission, "the government's capital grants schemes for biomass initiatives have focused on high-technology approaches to electricity-only generation with a view to potential export development". Pilot studies in the UK have not been based on established technology, it claims, with the result that there have been high failure rates.

"Climate change policy, not speculative export possibilities, should be the primary driver for developing the biomass sector," it admonishes.

• Elisabeth Jeffries is a UK-based freelance journalist.

According to a report, 'Biomass as a renewable energy resource', published in May 2004 by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, the UK is failing to take full advantage of production of energy from biomass (i.e. all organic matter of vegetable and animal origin).

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