WRA Chair, Richard Coulson, was delighted to meet with a senior official for Energy and Net Zero at 10 Downing Street this week (October 22) to discuss the many benefits the waste wood biomass sector brings to the UK in terms of low carbon baseload energy, environmental services, net zero and the potential for carbon removals.
Richard said that the waste wood biomass sector is crucial to helping the UK become a clean energy superpower and to develop a thriving market for carbon removals. He spoke about the value of baseload energy, and how it will back up the grid as the UK develops more wind and solar power and looked ahead to the future of the sector.
He explained that a lot of waste wood biomass sites are looking to retrofit Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technology to their plants, enabling carbon removals that will be critical to achieving net zero.
However, he warned that these benefits will be lost if the UK does not find a suitable policy framework to take the sites beyond 2027, when ROCs, which has helped grow the sector since 2002, comes to an end.
The WRA is therefore calling for a policy framework to support the continued operation of these important sites as a matter of urgency, to help to preserve all the benefits they bring.
The meeting was organised as part of the WRA’s ongoing Biomass Advocacy work, which is additionally funded by a group of the WRA’s biomass members.
Commenting on the meeting, Richard said: “We were delighted to meet with a senior official at No 10 this week to discuss the role of the waste wood biomass sector in the UK’s energy mix and in helping to deliver an important environmental service. It was a positive meeting and they seemed receptive to our messages and all the great work we do.”
“Thank you to the team at No 10 for hosting us, to Matthew Houlsby from Madano and to Euan Grimstone from Melton Renewable Energy for joining. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Government to secure the future for our sector.”
Picture caption: WRA Chair Richard Coulson (right) outside No10 Downing Street with Euan Grimstone from Melton Renewable Energy UK (left) and Matthew Houlsby from Madano (centre)