Controversial biomass power station scheme ‘to be greenlit by Government’

A controversial UK power plant could receive public money if it adopts a carbon capture technology derided as ‘greenwashing’.

Drax power station in North Yorkshire, a former coal-fired power station which now runs on “biomass” made up of imported waste wood, may receive subsidies for a process known as BECCS that captures and permanently stores carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by burning the fuel.

The Government last week launched a consultation on potential business models for the concept and Drax is to receive subsidies for its plans, reports the Yorkshire Post.

A Whitehall source told the paper that Drax utilising BECCS is key to the UK’s future energy security.

“BECCS is the only sustainable way to continue biomass in the way it removes emissions from the atmosphere,” they said.

“(Drax) is by far the single largest renewable energy generator in Britain, it is critical to energy security and without it we’d have to import that electricity from abroad or burn more gas.”

However, Drax was named the UK’s biggest single source of CO2 emissions last year. It releases over 13 million tonnes of CO2 a year, using around 7 million tonnes of wood pellets, the equivalent of about 25 million trees, scientists have said.

Forest protection campaigners Fern claim BECCS produces significant emissions, is expensive and has significant technical barriers, requires a huge amount of land, will harm biodiversity, and takes a huge amount of water.

Bruce Heppenstall, Drax Plant Director, said BECCS at Drax will be "the world’s biggest carbon capture in power project” and will help the local economy with job creation.

But even Tory MPs have criticised the plans. Importing wood to burn in the power station “is not sustainable” and “doesn’t make any sense”, said the business and energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, according to a recording of a private meeting of MPs obtained by The Guardian.

He said: “I can well see a point where we just draw the line and say: This isn’t working, this doesn’t help carbon emission reduction, that’s it – we should end it.”

In November, ministers were accused of lacking a “joined up strategy” on woodlands, as one government department spends six times more on the timber-burning power station than another spends on tree planting.

Annual subsidies for Drax reached £832m in 2020, while the budget for tree planting and peatland works out at just £130m a year.

At the time, environment minister Zac Goldsmith admitted just 2,000 hectares of trees had been planted in England this year. The government has said it is aiming to plant 30,000 hectares of new woodland across the UK each year by 2024, including 7,000-10,000 hectares in England by the end of this parliamentary term.

Labour MPs have claimed the “massive subsidies” for burning imported wood at Drax, combined with the low level of tree planting, meant the government’s plan to tackle the climate crisis through planting trees “is in flames”.