UK: Please object to biofuel power station in Llangefni, Anglesey

In Llangefni, Anglesey, EcoPellets has submitted an application which comprises three different developments: A wood pellet factory, a biomass (wood) and a separate biofuel (bioliquid) power station.

The biofuel power station would burn around 24,000 tonnes of biofuels a year. EcoPellets speaks about burning tallow, but there are serious contradictions in their biofuel sourcing claims and if the planning application was approved then nothing would stop them from burning vegetable oil, including palm oil.   In Italy and Germany, large numbers of biofuel power stations and CHP plants are in operation and virtually all of them are run on palm oil since this is the cheapest vegetable oil. It is thus very doubtful whether running a power station of the size proposed by EcoPellets without palm oil would be economically viable, even with subsidies.

Burning more tallow for biofuels also causes more oil palm expansion since tallow is otherwise used for soap and cosmetics, according to a report commissioned by the UK Government and the Renewable Fuels Agency.

Biofuelwatch also has serious concerns about EcoPellets’ proposal for a biomass power station and pellet factory. Altogether, EcoPellets will require around 380,000 tonnes of wood a year, 180,000 of which will be burnt at the site. Although the application speaks about sourcing ‘local wood’, it is very doubtful that this would be possible in view of the fast growing competitive demand bioenergy. All UK power station plans published by companies so far will require over 55 million tonnes of biomass, mainly wood a year yet total UK wood production is less than 10 million tonnes annually. In Anglesey, plans for a 300 million tonne biomass power station (Anglesey Aluminium, Holyhead) have already been approved. Across Wales, plans for biomass power stations which will, altogether, burn over 6.5 million tonnes of wood are pending or have been approved. There is thus a high chance that wood will be imported and an EcoPellets spokesperson previously informed the Planning Department of plans to import some of it from Nova Scotia.  Over 50 organisations in Nova Scotia have recently expressed their concerns that the states’ domestic plans for bioenergy will lead to a dramatic increase in clearcutting of boreal forests. Industrial wood burning, especially of trees cut down for this purpose, has been shown to result in a carbon debt of decades or centuries, worsening climate change at a time when emissions must be drastically reduced.

Locally, EcoPellets’ plans will mean more air pollution, threatening the health of people working and living nearby and significantly more traffic (with all deliveries to be made by road).

Please write to planning@anglesey.gov.uk to object to this application. If possible, please personalise the letter below before sending it.  If you would like to send an objection letter by post, the address is Planning Officer, Isle of Anglesey County Council, Council Offices, Llangefni, L77 7TW.  Although the official consultation period has passed, new objections are likely to still be accepted.  Many thanks.