DECC Unveil U.K. Bioenergy Strategy

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.

TESBiC: Techno-Economic Study of Biomass To CCS

Although biomass and carbon capture & storage (CCS) are frequently quoted as being "carbon-neutral" technologies, neither, in practice, can quite match that claim. But combine them, and you have something which surpasses carbon-neutral, a carbon-negative technology whereby the CO2 released from the combustion of biomass is captured and sequestered, providing a net sink of CO2 which can overcome the inefficiencies of the individual technologies.

The TESBiC (Techno-Economic Study of Biomass To CCS) consortium is looking to turn that pipe dream into a genuine part of the future U.K. energy mix. Commissioned and funded by ETI, the consortium's partners are a mix of key academic institutions (Cambridge, Imperial College, Leeds), big industrial players (EDF, Drax Power, Doosan Babcock) and innovative energy consultancies and software engineers (E4tech, cmcl innovations). The project's aims are to investigate and compare several combinations of CCS technologies with biomass with a state-of-the-art review, thus providing a greater understanding of how they might be deployed within the U.K., the compatibility between different technologies and different forms of biomass, and the challenges, both technical and economical, which must be overcome. This will provide the necessary insight to carry out parametric modelling studies of the most promising technology combinations, helping to address for some of the remaining unknowns, and underline the true potential of biomass with CCS.

Further details can be found on the TESBIC project webpage.

Canals offer cleaner passage for UK biomass

It is hoped that the UK's 18th century network of canals may be revitalised, by playing a pivotal role in the transportation of biomass for power generation. The concept stems from the energy services company Dalkia, which uses the Aire and Calder canal systems in Yorkshire to transport timber used in power generation, and has experience with 200 biomass facilities across Europe.

With the UK targeting 20% of its energy to be generated from renewables by 2020, biomass is likely to play a key role, but its green credentials can be significantly offset by transportation issues. It is hoped that the shift from road to rail will provide a cleaner mode of transport.

Last year, 1.8m tonnes of freight were carried along the UK's canal network, well down on its 40m peak in the days prior to automobiles, but there is great hope that this figure will rise significantly if the scheme is adopted more widely.

Full story is available on the Guardian website.