REA hits back after DECC consultation on biomass and CHP

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has voiced concerns following a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation for biomass power/CHP which it feels has ‘raised more questions than it answered’.

The DECC has laid out tough criteria to ensure UK power stations are using sustainable biomass including all wood fuel to come from sustainably managed forests, plus a proposal to set clear pathways in reducing carbon intensity of biomass generation.

Another biomass power and CHP consultation introduced new levels of complexity for biomass projects, putting a limit on the amount of plant coming through. Biomass currently has to show greenhouse gas savings of 60% compared to fossil generation in order to qualify for support under the Renewable Obilagtion (1.5 ROCs per MWh for dedicated biomass and 2 ROCs per MWh for CHP).

‘Proposing to cap the amount of new dedicated biomass generation is not helpful at a time when we should be bringing forward as much of the cheaper renewables as we can,’ says REA CEO Gaynor Hartnell.

‘Renewables can support a much bigger and broader vision for jobs and growth than we’ve seen so far from this government, as Lord Deben, chair of the Government’s advisory committee on Climate Change, made plain recently. First government needs to acknowledge that, and then we need a stable and effective policy framework to achieve it,’ she continues.

‘Instead of ramping up progress, government is actually making the project development process unworkable for some technologies. The coalition must focus not only on the benefits renewables have to offer the UK, but also on the overall framework and approach, which has become overly complex and debilitating.’