It is more important than ever to scale up the UK's biomass industry following government cuts to carbon capture and storage (CCS) funding, according to a new report released today by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).
Although ETI modelling predicts the greatest economic and environmental benefit from bioenergy will come when it is combined with CCS to deliver negative emissions, the report claims that even without CCS bioenergy can still deliver greenhouse gas emissions savings as long as biomass fuel is grown on appropriate, well-managed land.
The report's author, Geraldine Newton-Cross, said CCS combined with biomass offers the best opportunity for the UK to meet its climate change targets at the lowest possible cost, and urged the government to consider it as a long-term mechanism for delivering emissions reductions.
But she added that in the near term delays to the development should not be used to justify a slowdown in the development of the biomass sector. "In the more immediate timeframe, we feel there is now sufficient evidence of system-level carbon savings to support the implementation of a national policy framework for large-scale biomass production," she said. "The longer a decision is delayed the more rapid the rollout would need to become, adding expense and limiting the UK's ability to identify optimal approaches and share best practice."
The report suggests biomass could be deployed to meet around 10 per cent of future energy demand, and argues that taking "positive action" on the role of biomass over the next five years would make it easier to use it as a low-cost route to meeting the UK's carbon targets by 2050.
The report echoes long-standing scientific warnings that so-called negative emissions technologies will be needed during the second half of the century if the world is to stand a reasonable chance of meeting internationally agreed goals to keep temperature increases well below 2C.
However, biomass projects have faced fierce criticism from green groups, who have argued increased demand for biomass material could lead to increased emissions if land use impacts are not properly managed.
Several studies commissioned last year by non-profits warned Europe's demand for wood and energy crops could outstrip available resources if the biomass sector continues to expand.
The ETI is a public-private partnership between the UK government and several energy and engineering companies, including BP, EDF and Shell.
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