Tag Archives: climate-change
DECC Doubles Down on Woody Biomass
By Tim Portz | September 03, 2013 On August 22, 2013 the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy & Climate Change released its much anticipated report, “Government Response to the consultation on proposals to enhance the sustainability criteria for the use of biomass feedstocks under the Renewables Obligation (RO)”. The title is certainly a mouthful, but after a few readings of the 52 page document it is clear the DECC intended the report to be its final word on the role that woody biomass would be allowed to play in meeting the nation’s ambitious Renewables Obligation. In a letter included in the annex of the report was a letter signed by a host of biomass industry professionals that asks DECC to not only firmly establish its support for biomass, but to buttress this support with some measure of long term certainty. The ministers at DECC clearly headed this advice and included in their report a commitment to “long term certainty” that deal makers and the investment community were advocating for. Specifically, on page 8 the report states, “ We have also decided to adopt a policy that the UK will no make further unilateral changes in the methodology underpinning the GHG targets or to other aspects of the RO sustainability criteria before 1 April 2027 ”. And so the DECC has spoken. The report establishes that woody biomass will play a significant role in the UK’s Bioenergy Strategy moving forward, but not without robust assurances of adherence to sustainability guidelines. While North American pellet producers, foresters and landowners were certainly aware of, and comfortable that they could achieve sustainability requirements the UK would set forth, the unresolved question hinged on the degree to which this adherence would be verified and reported. While the report establishes that final sustainability criteria will not be announced until the end of the year, so that they may be harmonized with the criteria being established by the European Commission, the report also establishes that once finalized, power producers would be “required to demonstrate that solid biomass and biogas feedstocks meet the sustainability criteria in order to be eligible for support under the RO”. Essentially, if power producers going to participate in the Renewables Obligation and generate Renewable Energy Credits, audits, verification and reporting must become a part of their supply chain program, beginning April 15 2015. By answering this one question, the DECC report introduces many others. Clearly, the finalized criterion that the report suggests will be issued at the end of the year is the biggest question for producers and their supply chains, but that isn’t the only one. As North American pellet producers continue to grow their exports and satisfy UK based demand, creating a chain of custody reporting program that their customers will need will have to become an extension of their production operation. Forest certification, while not widespread in the United States, does have a precedent. Both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) have established certification programs and are certifying forest acres that later become paper and lumber products, all bearing proof of their certified status. This latest report from DECC confirms that the growth in the export market for North American producers will continue and along with it an industry wide reporting and verification program. Continue reading
Korean Companies Eye Indonesia’s Biomass Potential
Date: August 26, 2013 Indonesia’s forests look set to come under more pressure as South Korean companies look to develop a new biomass industry. Korean firm, Depian, plans to invest USD20 million to build the infrastructure for a wood pellet business in Pelaihari, South Kalimantan. In a deal with local investor PT Inhutani III, Depian will hold 49 percent of the joint venture called PT SL Agri, which will produce 30,000 tons of wood pellets a year up until 2016 when the plant will upgrade and produce 100,000 tons. The original deal was signed in January, but more details were revealed last week by SL Agri president Muhammad Akbariah. Speaking to the Jakarta Post, he said building will start in October and the plant should be operating by March 2014. “The project is worth USD20 billion in total, with USD15 billion for the development of the plant and the remaining USD5 billion for planting trees on approximately 5,000 hectares to 8,000 hectares of an industrial forest that PT Inhutani III is currently preparing,” he said after a meeting with Depian representatives and South Korean Embassy officials. The South Koreans plan to export the wood pellets home to help boost the national renewable energy targets of 20 percent by 2020, up from under one percent in 2011. There are indications that the Depian deal might be the first of several. Officials from the Korean embassy said it could serve as a “pilot project” for co-operation on other alternative energy products in Indonesia. Lee Mira, an embassy counselor focused on forestry, agriculture, fishery and climate change said 13 other South Korean firms were looking at other projects and that biomass energy was a priority. However she hinted that South Korean companies found it difficult to find partners in Indonesia. Continue reading
New Regulations Create Fresh Row Over Biomass Power
Government guidelines could allow destructive forms of biomass and fail to satisfy industry of future financial support Fiona Harvey , environment correspondent theguardian.com , Thursday 22 August 2013 15.34 BST The travails of the industry were highlighted in July with the shelving of plans to turn the Tilbury power station into a biomass-burning plant. Photograph: Alamy[/color] New regulations to ensure energy generated from forests, crops and waste is sustainable provoked a fresh row on Thursday over biomass power, with the government plans failing to reassure the industry of future financial support. Green campaigners said the new rules would allow the use of destructive forms of biomass, which have been linked to deforestation in other countries. The biomass industry denied this, but will still face a major task to attract investment into the sector, because the government has put strict limits on how biomass plants will be supported under its new regime for the electricity market. Under the current proposals, biomass will be at a disadvantage relative to other forms of generation, because some forms of new biomass power plants will be effectively excluded from the new long-term “contracts for difference” that are the basis of the new system. That may rattle investors. The travails of the industry were highlighted in July with the shelving of plans to turn the Tilbury power station, in Essex, into a biomass-burning plant. Greg Barker, minister for energy and climate change, said biomass – now an industry worth £1bn in the UK and supporting 3,000 jobs – had “an important role” in UK energy generation. “The new criteria will provide the necessary investor certainty and ensure that the biomass is delivered in a transparent and sustainable way.” The new sustainability rules cover issues such as harvesting rates, to ensure trees can regrow, as well as ensuring wood comes from forests where the biodiversity is not harmed by the harvesting, and where the rights of indigenous people are respected. The government promised there would be no changes to the criteria before 2027, and that the operators of plants who complied with the guidelines would continue to receive subsidies under the Renewable Obligation. Dr Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, which represents the industry, said: “These sustainability criteria ensure that the UK can reap the benefits of biomass, safe in the knowledge that it is making a real dent in our carbon emissions and that ecologically sensitive land is being protected.” Tensions between green groups and the biomass industry have been running high for months, as environmental groups have published studies and claims that some forms of biomass, such as imported wood, do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions because they encourage the chopping down of large swaths of forest. Biomass proponents have responded that some of the scientific research has been misinterpreted , and unrealistic worst case scenarios wrongly presented as the norm. At least one academic involved with the research has contested the green groups’ claims. However, the government’s new guidelines, far from defusing the row, have inflamed it further. Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said: “The loopholes in these sustainability standards are big enough to drive a logging truck through. The government has ignored the latest scientific research and produced standards that will take a potentially sustainable industry and transform it into one more way to greenwash environmental destruction. The climate isn’t going to fall for creative accounting and neither should the public.” The government also failed to satisfy the biomass industry with Thursday’s announcement. Under electricity market reform, new biomass-burning power stations will only qualify for the new contracts if the heat they produce is captured and reused, a process known as combined heat and power (CHP). But some biomass companies are worried because CHP technology is an extra cost at the outset, and because it is only suitable where there are buildings – either dwellings, industrial estates or large public buildings – near enough for the heat to be piped from the plant. Given the UK’s planning laws, it may be hard to get permission for a site, which could put some potential projects in a “catch-22” situation. CHP will also only be economically viable if nearby property owners are prepared to pay for the heat. Skorupska said biomass was a good option because it could reduce carbon, but is not intermittent like other renewables such as wind. But she warned that the CHP stipulation risked harming investment. “CHP is an excellent use of the resource, but it is not feasible in sites where there is no user for the heatload. The government will have serious regrets down the line if it excludes the construction of dedicated biomass power plants from the new regime.”[/font][/color] Continue reading
