The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has recently made its Bioenergy Strategy available to the public. Working closely with the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the government's strategy, which look to increase the contribution by bioenergy to the U.K's energy mix without in anyway compromising its sustainability, encompass the following:
- 10-12% of U.K's primary energy attributed to bioenergy by 2050.
- A reduction of the emissions threshold associated with forest biomass from 285 to 200g CO2/kWh, and the application of a U.K. Forest Standard to ensure the sustainability of all domestic forests, irrespective of the final wood use.
- The rapid deployment of CCS (Carbon capture and storage) technologies which, when used in conjunction with bioenergy, could result in a net CO2 sink. The U.K. potential of deploying biomass power generation with CCS is being explored by an ETI-helmed project.
- The focus of biomass-based power generation towards co-firing and/or conversion of existing coal-based plants, with dedicated biomass being restricted to small-scale, or a limited number of large-scale projects.
- An assessment of the global wood industry, to understand the potential effects of a growth in U.K. demand.
The full document can be accessed here.
