The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) has said that a new report highlights how the UK’s ‘global leadership’ in bioenergy is setting an example to the rest of the world in transitioning from coal to Net Zero.
The report by academics from Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights – Electric Insights: Q1 2021: Britain’s Transition From Coal To Biomass To BECCS – has shown that the UK is the largest user of sustainable bioenergy, which uses plant materials and organic wastes to generate renewable energy.
The UK’s share of electricity generation from biomass has tripled over the past decade, hitting an all-time high of 11% in 2020. This means that the UK has the highest share of electricity production from biomass of any large country (ones with over 100 TWh/year electricity demand).
Progress over the last 15 years has meant that sustainable bioenergy has played a central role in:
- Replacing coal by converting old coal power stations to sustainable fuels, which has helped the UK’s world-leading rapid reduction of coal in its energy system;
- Supporting other renewables, such as wind and solar, by providing a back-up low-carbon energy source and helping to stabilise the energy system;
- Laying the groundwork for BECCS, which can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping us to reach Net Zero.
Commissioned via Imperial Consultants, the report shows the important role that sustainable biomass has played so far in taking coal off the electricity system and supporting variable renewables.
Comparing 2012 to 2019, coal-to-biomass conversions reduced carbon emissions by 10 MtCO2 per year, equivalent to taking 2.17 million cars off the road every year. By the mid-2030s, BECCS could be removing 40 MtCO2 per year from the atmosphere, comparable to total annual emissions in 2020.
Sustainable bioenergy will be vital to the future of the UK’s energy mix and decarbonisation targets. The deployment of BECCS means annual carbon emissions from electricity generation could fall negative as early as 2030 in National Grid’s scenarios.
Dr Nina Skorupska, CBE, CEO of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said: “Sustainable biomass has been key to the UK’s decarbonisation success so far and has supported the expansion of variable renewables like wind and solar. Negative emissions through Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage will be vital to achieving our Net Zero targets and will be delivered by building on the UK’s world-leading biomass sectors and adhering to strict science-led sustainability governance.
“We look forward to the publication of an update this summer on the upcoming Biomass Strategy, which we hope will provide a clear direction for the further development of the bioenergy sector over the coming years.”
