Hargreaves Services Plc has set up a subsidiary company called Rocpower Ltd to generate electricity from vegetable oil. Hargreaves itself is a supplier of services and fossil fuels, including coal, to conventional power station operators and they are also investing in one of the UK’s biggest opencast coal mines, in Wales.
Rocpower are planning to build at least SIX biofuel power stations in Yorkshire and Lancashire, with a total generating capacity of 60MW. This is three times the size of the power station Blue NG wants to build in Southall, so Rocpower’s total fuel consumption across the six planned sites is likely to be at least 150,000 tonnes per year.
Rocpower has submitted planning applications for at least four of the six power stations and one of them has been approved:
- Wakefield – 11 MW: This has been approved on the basis of an application which refers to plans to burn palm oil and is planned in Featherstone.
- Barnsley – 7MW: The initial planning application was withdrawn. It has now been resubmitted ( Planning application No. 2009/1539). The plans are for Baraugh Green.
- Sheffield – 8MW: Planning application No. 09/02979/FUL, to be built in Ecclesfield. Planning Committee date not yet announced.
- Leeds- 19 MW input / 7 MW output; Application Ref: 10/02274/FU. No committee date yet. To be built in Bramham, with palm oil specified as one likely feedstock.
Rocpower claim in a statement in their new planning application that they intend to burn both tall oil (a byproduct from paper production) and different types of vegetable oil which they call “co-products” and which are neither used cooking oil nor, by their definition, “virgin vegetable oil”. They give no indication as to which types of biofuels would meet their definition. Another biofuel company, W4B, is trying to argue that a type of palm oil called palm stearin is a “byproduct” even though it is used for food, soap and candles. Other companies have argued that soybean oil is a “byproduct” because soybeans also yield soy meal used for animal feed. There is nothing to stop Rocpower from using the same “logic” because different products are gained when any type of vegetable oil is processed, whether palm, soya or rapeseed. Furthermore, Rocpower have once again submitted an older Environmental Review to the planning department in Barnsley which refers to palm oil plans!
Furthermore, even if “residues” were used, something Rocpower do not commit themselves to, the indirect impacts could be very negative, as demonstrated in a study commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Agency. Burning “residues” which would otherwise be used by the food industry or for making soap or cosmetics, can, for example, boost the overall demand for palm oil.
The power station is planned inside an Air Quality Management Area, i.e. an area with high levels of air pollution. It will increase levels of nitrogen oxides and small particulates which are linked to respiratory and heart disease, as well as emissions of PAHs which are linked to cancer and birth defects.
The planning documents can be found here.
IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK please send in an objection to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council as soon as possible. If possible, please personalise the letter below before emailing it to the Council’s Planning Department.
Please let your friends and family know. Many thanks.
[ecampaign targetEmail=’developmentcontrol@barnsley.gov.uk’ targetSubject=”Rocpower’s application for a biofuel power station at Barugh Green Ref 2009/1539″ friendSubject=”URGENT : Email alert about UK planning and impacts of biofuels”]
I wish to object to Rocpower’s planning application for a 7 MW biofuel power station at Whaley Road, Barugh Green, Barnsley, which would burn over 8700 tonnes of biofuels every year. The application forms part of much larger plans by Rocpower for a total of 60MW output from biofuel burning. I am deeply concerned about the impacts which this additional demand for biofuels will have on the climate, on rainforests and other ecosystems, and on communities in the global South. In Italy and Germany, a large number of biofuel power stations are already operating and virtually all of them run on palm oil which is by far the cheapest vegetable oil, and is very damaging to the environment.
Rocpower speak about using vegetable oil “co-products” in addition to a byproduct of paper production, tall oil. However, the wording used in their planning application does not prevent them also burning types of palm oil, soybean oil and rapeseed oil. There is no indication that Rocpower will be able to reliably source the required quantities of tall oil in the longer term, meaning that other fuels like palm oil or soybean oil are likely to be burnt.
“Residues”, “co-products” or “by-products”, which can be used as a fuel, will already be in demand by other industries. Burning them in the UK for electricity generation will add to the overall global demand for liquid fuels, and the demand will be met largely by expansion of the highest yielding and cheapest biofuels, notably palm oil.
This displacement effect is already evident with the EU demand for rapeseed oil for transport biodiesel. As EU consumption of rapeseed oil has increased, the deficit on global markets has been taken up by palm oil expansion.
The power stations will thus further increase the demand for biofuels and, directly or indirectly, for land required for vegetable oil. Given that both the UK and the EU are net importers of vegetable oil, this is likely to mean more palm oil imports. Palm oil expansion is the main cause of deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia, according to the UN Environment Programme, and is accelerating rainforest destruction in many other countries, including Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Ecuador, Uganda and Cameroon. Studies have shown that biofuels linked to palm oil expansion in South-east Asia, whether directly or indirectly, cause hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than using the equivalent amounts of mineral oil. Plantation expansion caused by the increasing demand is also linked to the displacement and eviction of indigenous peoples, small farmers, pastoralists and other communities, often involving human rights abuses.
I am also concerned about the additional air pollution, namely nitrogen oxides, particulates – PM10 and PM 2.5, and PAHs that will be caused in Barugh Green which I understand is already an Air Quality Management Area. The air quality assessment submitted by Rocpower confirms that the emissions of nitrogen oxides and small particulates will “not be insignificant”. Furthermore, PAH emissions from burning pure vegetable oil have been shown to be significant and to be associated with a higher risk of cancer and birth defects.
Yours sincerely,
I have just sent an email alert from Biofuelwatch’s website to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Planning Department asking them to not approve an application for a biomass power station. This is not good for the climate, forests or local people and must be stopped! To find out more, please click here to go to the webpage :”
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