Biomass is a renewable, organic matter such as virgin wood, sawmill residues and vegetable residues, and is burned in the generation of electricity and heat.
It excludes organic materials fossil fuels including coal or petroleum which have been transformed by geological processes. Biomass is currently used as a fuel source either in isolation or with coal.
Biomass should not be confused with biofuels. Biofuels are a target replacement for gasoline and diesel in transportation and as such have different economics and different demand drivers.
Biomass does not compete with natural gas as a fuel for power generation in the UK.
Growth in biomass generation is driven primarily by legislative obligation under the Kyoto Protocol of the UK and Europe reducing carbon emissions. It is expected that biomass will contribute to 6% of the UK’s base load power capacity by 2020, up from 0.6% today. Total European demand for biomass is estimated to be 25 million tons per annum by 2017.
Legislation, government subsidies and prevailing market economics means that biomass will displace coal-fired generation capacity rather than natural gas. Due to the projected demand for base line power, it is possible that by 2020, the majority of UK base line power generation will be provided by nuclear, gas and biomass, in that order of preference/magnitude.
Biomass is considered a ‘carbon neutral’ fuel because the source forest must be grown in a sustainable manner before it can be converted into biomass material. This is in contrast to coal, oil and gas, where the carbon dioxide released is ‘new’ carbon dioxide that had previously been locked underground
The combustion (direct or indirect) of biomass as a fuel also returns CO2 to the atmosphere, however this carbon is part of the current carbon cycle: it was absorbed during the growth of the plant over the previous few months or years and, provided the land continues to support growing plant material, a sustainable balance is maintained between carbon emitted and absorbed.
Contacts for further information:
Sophie Ducoloner, Manager, Origination Asia-Pacific
sophie.ducoloner@gazprom-mt.com