The Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) has today (August 10) welcomed the launch of the government’s much-anticipated Biomass Strategy.
The strategy sets out how sustainable biomass, including that powered by waste wood, can be best used to support the government’s environmental and net zero goals, while delivering energy security.
Richard Coulson, Chair of the WRA, said: “We welcome this strategy which re-affirms the government’s commitment to sustainable biomass among the wider energy mix and recognises the important role that waste wood biomass can play.”
“Biomass powered by waste wood not only delivers reliable, renewable baseload power but, by using domestic waste as a fuel, prevents greenhouse gas emissions from landfill.”
Richard explained that the sector brings many benefits to the UK, with the capacity to generate 470MW of low carbon baseload power each year – enough reliable power for 840,000 households. The sector also saved 2.27 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2021.
However, he said it was critical that the government now support the industry to deploy bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). This greenhouse gas removal technology could enable the sector to deliver negative emissions and would provide an important tool in combating climate change.
He said: “There is now an urgent need for the government to go further and confirm support for our sector to deploy power bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to enable us to invest for the future.
“The waste wood biomass sector is already making an important contribution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and is perfectly placed with BECCS to deliver several more millions of tonnes of CO2 removal.
“It is critical that the eligibility criteria for any support is inclusive and does not exclude many waste wood-powered biomass plants and the valuable role they could play.”
“We look forward to working with the government to ensure that our sector can make a long and lasting contribution to UK energy security and to combating climate change.”