Response to the governments consultation on ‘Controlling the costs of biomass conversion and co-firing under the Renewables Obligation’

The government published a consultation on preventing 8 coal power stations already registered under the now closed Renewable Obligation subsidy scheme from claiming unforeseen amounts of subsidy (up to £250m) by burning increased amounts of biomass. The consultation document acknowledged that “When compared with [other genuinely low-carbon renewable] technologies, carbon savings from biomass conversion or co-firing are low or non-existent, and the cost of any savings is high.” 

Given that recognition and the government’s commitment to phase out coal Biofuelwatch argued that the government had no grounds to continue perverse subsidies for a technology that is as bad as coal for the climate, damages forests and biodiversity and pollutes communities. We attached our recent ‘Summary of Recent Biomass Research‘ 

Biofuelwatch response to RO costs consultation