BRITAIN鈥檚 bid to generate large amounts of electricity by burning biomass such as trees, plants and organic waste has all but collapsed.
While 5 per cent of Britain鈥檚 electricity was supposed to come from biomass by 2010, technical and economic problems have brought a 拢79 million advanced biomass technology programme to a grinding halt. Farmers commissioned to grow biomass fuel have been left with no market for their crop.
The biomass programme is a 鈥渄isaster鈥� and 鈥渁 bloody mess鈥�, says Richard Landen, a spokesman for British Biogen, the trade association that represents biomass generators, equipment makers and farmers. It blames the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for backing technologies too immature to generate power commercially.
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The DTI wanted biomass energy to meet half of Britain鈥檚 target of generating 10 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2010, with the rest mostly coming from wind power. Biomass currently provides well below 1 per cent of the country鈥檚 electricity in simple power plants burning wood, straw and chicken litter. This is mirrored in the US where biomass supplies 1.6 per cent of the nation鈥檚 electricity.
But elsewhere, biomass has become an important tool for reducing carbon dioxide levels, supplying local heating as well as electricity. It supplies 20 per cent of Finland鈥檚 total energy needs and 15 per cent of Sweden鈥檚.
Critics of Britain鈥檚 programme say it has come unstuck because it attempted to use two unproven technologies. The first, pyrolysis, involves heating timber, plant matter and organic waste at high pressure to produce a high-quality oil that can fuel a power plant.
But plans by the company Border Biofuels for pyrolysis plants in Cumbria and Scotland have been postponed. Antony Robson, a director of Border Biofuels鈥� owner DynaMotive, says the pyrolysis plants are 鈥渦nder review鈥� owing to the high transport costs involved in collecting and shipping lumber wasteto the power stations.
The second technique, gasification, aims to make combustion more efficient by converting wood chips into gas in a 鈥渇luidised bed鈥� maintained by circulating air. The gas can then be used to fuel a gas turbine generator. But an 8-megawatt plant near Eggborough in Yorkshire, planned as the forerunner of many others, was forced to close in August after only eight full days of operation. The company that ran it, ARBRE Energy, is no longer trading.
The many technical problems faced by the plant are understood to include alkali metal contaminants in the biomass fuel. These are said to have combined with the sand used to filter out pollution and formed a glue, gumming up the fluidised bed.
The plant鈥檚 closure has sparked a crisis for farmers commissioned to grow fuel. Over 1500 hectares were planted with fast-growing willow for which there is no buyer. 鈥淭he crop may now be worthless,鈥� says John Strawson, a spokesman for the willow farmers.
Peter Billins, the chief executive of British Biogen, says the government should have encouraged a more pragmatic, less high-tech approach, even if that meant lower efficiency. For its part, the government is determined not to ditch biomass, and hopes a buyer will be found for the Eggborough plant. 鈥淲e are not abandoning biomass,鈥� says a DTI spokesman. 鈥淭he industry is by no means dead.鈥�