UK biomass energy since 1990: the mismatch between project types and policy objectives

Biomass energy is expected to play an important role in achieving the UK government's ambitious targets to boost renewables. Since 1990, the main UK support mechanism for renewables has been the non-fossil fuel obligation (NFFO). With only seven of 22 NFFO contracts for fibrous biomass energy projects now operational, the level of real progress has been disappointing. The government's renewables policy has changed over the years and is now based on five objectives. The paper aims to assess what types of biomass energy systems would be most suitable to achieve those objectives. The assessment shows that the nature of the supported developments was inconsistent with most individual objectives. To an important extent this was due to inherent operational contradictions between these objectives. It is argued that the rationale for supporting renewables should primarily lie in reducing greenhouse gas emissions or in energy diversity and security. Support for the rural economy, the development of export technologies and increased competitiveness of renewables, should be seen as desirable longer-term outcomes from the development of a biomass energy sector. By treating these as equals (and even as superiors) to the objectives of climate change and energy diversity, the UK government has actually crippled the development of the biomass energy sector.

[1]  P. Sinclair,et al.  The influence of trust in a biomass plant application: the case study of Sutton, UK , 2001 .

[2]  Roger Fouquet,et al.  The United Kingdom demand for renewable electricity in a liberalised market 1 1 This paper was spons , 1998 .

[3]  Bishnu Raj Upreti,et al.  Conflict over biomass energy development in the United Kingdom: some observations and lessons from England and Wales , 2004 .

[4]  H.-M. Groscurth,et al.  Total costs and benefits of biomass in selected regions of the European Union , 2000 .

[5]  David Porter,et al.  Renewable energy in a competitive electricity market , 1996 .

[6]  David Elliott.  Renewable energy policy in the UK: Problems and opportunities , 1996 .

[7]  Catherine Mitchell,et al.  The renewables NFFO: A review , 1995 .

[8]  Dieter Helm,et al.  A critique of renewables policy in the UK , 2002 .

[9]  John Vickers,et al.  The British electricity experiment , 1991 .

[10]  Dieter Helm,et al.  Energy, the State, and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979 , 2003 .

[11]  Tom Sir Blundell,et al.  Energy: the changing climate , 2001 .

[12]  Osamu Mochida,et al.  Prospects for the 21st Century , 1998 .

[13]  D. Horst,et al.  National renewable energy policy and local opposition in the UK: the failed development of a biomass electricity plant , 2004 .

[14]  N. Meyer.  European schemes for promoting renewables in liberalised markets , 2003 .

[15]  Leif Gustavsson,et al.  Regional production and utilization of biomass in Sweden , 1996 .

[16]  D R McIlveen-Wright,et al.  A re-appraisal of wood-fired combustion. , 2001, Bioresource technology.

[17]  Paul Komor,et al.  Renewable Energy Policy , 2004 .

[18]  Michael Grubb,et al.  Quantifying the UK's incentives for low carbon investment , 2003 .

[19]  Peter M. Connor,et al.  UK renewable energy policy: a review , 2003 .