By Christine Ro
Business of technology.
Christine Ro is the image source.
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The UK's biggest renewable energy plant is Drax.
This is the second of two articles about how wood pellets are produced and used as a green energy source. The first article can be found here.
Busy roads and small farms surround the Drax power station. A faint humming noise can be heard all around the complex, as water rises slowly and steadily from the cooling towers.
The scale of operations at this converted coal plant is gargantuan. The UK's largest renewable power station is here. The wood is imported from the US on huge ships that can carry up to 21 days in transit. Drax gets about 17 deliveries of wood pellets a day, and they operate 24 hours a day, six days a week.
Once inside, the pellets are pulverised into a powder and then burnt. The steam from this process is used to make electricity.
The UK's renewable power was enough for four million homes in 2020. The UK is the largest consumer of wood pellets in the world, but the industry is growing in value and reach.
The image is from Daniel Lewis/Drax.
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The power station is powered by wood pellets.
South Korea and Japan are both interested in the EU. The search for new sources of wood has widened.
Drax's green credentials have been challenged recently by environmentalists. The power station is the UK's single largest source of carbon dioxide according to the climate think tank. The firm's share price fell on the news but has since regained its lost ground. The stock was removed from the S&P Global Clean Energy Index after the index changed its methodology.
When it comes to the world of climate accounting, energy from trees is considered renewable. Greenhouse gas emissions from trees are counted in the nation of land use rather than the place where they are burned.
Mary Booth, founder of the environmental organisation Partnership for Policy Integrity, points out that "just because something is counted as zero because of an accounting convention does not mean it's carbon neutral".
Christine Ro is the image source.
The image caption is.
The UK government gave Drax £832m in subsidies in 2020.
The Chatham House think tank says that wood pellet burning in the UK generated 13-16 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2019.
A company spokesman says that Drax's biomass is not used that causes forest decline or carbon debt, and that it meets the highest sustainable standards.
Drax's largest source of pellets is roundwood. This wood has little economic value. If it were left intact, it would still have environmental value.
The company received £832m in UK government subsidies in 2020. Many environmentalists believe that the support should be directed to wind and solar energy, which are more energy efficient, cost-effective and carbon neutral.
At Glasgow's COP26 climate summit, officials didn't take a clear stance on the use of biomass, though a leading EU climate official called for its use.
The image is from the same source.
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The position of wood pellets was not clarified by delegates at the summit.
The Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use commits leaders of over 130 countries to curb forest loss by the year 2030.
It is not clear how this will be done. The agreement will fail if countries don't come to terms with their dependence on wood, warns Elly Pepper, a campaigner at Cut Carbon Not Forests.
She says that it's hypocritical for the UK to sign the declaration while continuing billions in subsidies for the dirty energy industry.
The UK government has a contracted end date for Drax's subsidies in 2027. The environmentalists want to influence future UK policy, such as the Biomass Strategy 2022. They're hoping to reform the EU's Renewable Energy Directive.
Christine Ro is the image source.
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The plant gets 17 wood pellet deliveries a day.
The Environmental Paper Network's Peg Putt is worried that COP 26 will make the reliance on biomass worse.
She says that mixing coal and biomass appears to magically decrease the emissions and thus the emissions intensity of coal generation, and that the agreement on the phase down of coal power could actually be interpreted as permitting that.
Drax is looking beyond the next decade. BECC is a proposal for the development of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. This technology removes and stores carbon dioxide.
Drax believes that putting carbon dioxide under the North Sea will make its operations carbon negative. Many environmentalists think that this would be a licence to pollute.
Locals are not sure what is being proposed in the BECCS project. The consultation documents staked to a village field have been ignored, while the thick folders explaining the proposal at the library and the Drax-affiliated social club have been roundly ignored.
The image is from the same source.
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The company believes that putting carbon dioxide under the North Sea will make its operations carbon negative.
Due to the UK's current energy crisis, the future source of energy is a hot topic.
Consumers are facing huge increases in energy bills because of a dramatic rise in the price of wholesale gas.
Many environmentalists are skeptical of Drax's claim that it is a reliable alternative source of energy.
Ms Pepper says that we need real change, not false solutions.
The National Press Foundation supported the reporting of this article.
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