Green Investment Bank: Don’t fund Forth Energy’s destructive Grangemouth biomass power station

On 3^rd June, the Scottish Government approved Forth Energy’s consent application for a biomass power station at Grangemouth Port that will burn 1.5 million tonnes of wood.  Most of the wood will be imported – likely from North and/or South America.  This is the first of three similar planning applications by Forth Energy to be determined – ones for Rosyth and Dundee are still pending (with a Public Local Inquiry expected over the Dundee plans).

Nearly 1,000 Grangemouth residents objected to the plans (in a town of just 18,000 people), as did the local authority.  At a Public Local Inquiry last May, a coalition of objecting groups, led by Grangemouth Community Council, presented detailed evidence on the damage that the power station would cause to forests and climate, to local people’s health and to aquatic life.  Yet the Reporter recommended approval – arguing that the sustainability, efficiency and the climate impacts of the plant were not relevant planning matters and brushing aside concerns over public health and ecosystem impacts.

Now, the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is considering whether to help finance the power station.  This was confirmed in a response to a Biofuelwatch Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Government states: “The Scottish Government is aware that UK Green Investment Bank (UKGIB) are investing and looking to invest in Bioenergy/biomass/biofuel projects including potentially to Forth Energy for Grangemouth”.  For Forth Energy, a GIB loan may well be key to attracting the private sector loans – which means, without GIB support, the power station might not be built.

 GIB finance for Forth Energy’s Grangemouth plant would mean:

+ A clear clash of interest: Lord Smith of Kelvin is Chair of the GIB as well as Chairman of SSE who own 50% of the shares in Forth Energy.

+ More forest destruction: Last month, the BBC reported that pellets made from trees that were clearcut in ancient swamp forests in the southern US were being exported to Drax.  The pellet company in question has one of the certificates recognized by Forth Energy and the Scottish Government, so destroying ancient swamp forests would meet their ‘sustainability’ rules;

+ More air pollution threatening Grangemouth people’s health: Legal air quality standards have been breached regularly for many years in the town.  Grangemouth Town Centre has well-above-average rates of heart and respiratory disease and strokes, all of which are known to be exacerbated by air pollution;

+ More carbon emissions: Forth Energy does not deny that they intend to burn wood from whole trees and study after study shows that this results in greater overall carbon emissions than coal (per unit of energy) for at least one or two generations.

The GIB has already helped to keep Drax from being shut down by co-financing their partial conversion with biomass, as confirmed by Secretary of State Vince Cable.  They should be funding genuine low-carbon, sustainable investments – not more high-carbon, unsustainable and polluting biomass.

Please write to the GIB below.  Your letter will be automatically copied to the UK and Scottish Governments.  If you can personalize your message, it may have greater impact.  Many thanks!

To find out more about the Green Bank and our efforts to stop more funding for biomass, see Banking on Big Biomass and for more information about the Scottish Government’s decision to approve Forth Energy’s Grangemouth application, see our briefing here.

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{subject* Green Bank: Don’t fund Forth Energy’s destructive Grangemouth biomass power station!}

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Dear Lord Smith,

I am deeply concerned to hear that the Green Investment Bank is looking at the possibility of funding Forth Energy’s biomass power station in Grangemouth. Following the GIB’s loan for Drax, funding for Forth Energy’s biomass plans would further undermine the Bank’s credentials and contradict its purpose, which is to help finance sustainable and low-carbon investments. Large inefficient wood-burning power stations are neither. It would also raise serious question about an apparent conflict of interest, given that SSE, a company you chair, own 50% of shares in Forth Energy. If the Green Investment Bank were to finance Forth Energy’s biomass plant, this would mean:

+ Funding for forest destruction: According to planning conditions and Forth Energy’s own planning documents, wood fuel certified by a range of voluntary certification schemes will be considered sustainable. One of those is the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Last month, the BBC reported that wood pellets made from trees that were clearcut in ancient swamp forests in the southern US were being exported to Drax. The responsible pellet company, a major supplier to the UK, has all its pellets certified by the SFI. This means wood from such destructive sources could well be burnt at Grangemouth. By funding Drax’s biomass conversion, the GIB has already helped to fund the destruction of ancient swamp forests – funding for Forth Energy would exacerbate those impacts;

+ Funding for a high carbon development: Forth Energy does not deny that they intend to burn wood from whole trees and study after study shows that this results in greater overall carbon emissions than coal (per unit of energy) for at least one or two generations. The planning conditions do not address carbon emissions at all;

+ Funding for a highly polluting new power station in a heavily polluted town: Legal air quality standards have been breached regularly for many years in the town. Grangemouth Town Centre has well-above-average rates of heart and respiratory disease and strokes, all of which are known to be exacerbated by air pollution.

+ Funding for a highly inefficient power station: The planning conditions only require Forth Energy to achieve the minimum 35% or less conversion efficiency required for accreditation as a Combined Heat and Power Plant – and even less for up to five years. This means almost two out of every three trees cut down for the power station will be entirely wasted as uncaptured heat.

Please can you assure me that the Green Investment Bank will not help finance Forth Energy’s Grangemouth biomass power station and not consider financing those in Rosyth or Dundee, should they be consented in future.  The Green Investment Bank must stop funding big biomass.

Yours sincerely,
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[ecampaign class=EcampaignFriend hidden=true subject=”Green Bank: Don’t fund Forth Energy’s destructive Grangemouth biomass power station”] I have just sent an email an email to the Green Investment Bank, telling them  not to finance Forth Energy’s destructive biomass power station plans. I hope you will as well. Here is the link:
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