A recent report from the Energy Systems Catapult modelled planting scenarios for Miscanthus, short rotation forestry and SRC willow using the ‘Bioenergy Value Chain Model (BVCM)’ originally developed by the Energy Technologies Institute.
A key feature of the report is that it considers the entire value chain, from biomass resource to end use facilities and their likely locations. This will be particularly important in forthcoming years given the need to use biomass as a carbon capture technology, as opposed to simply as a source of energy. For Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facilities, the expectation is that CO2 captured at power stations will be exported to offshore storage sites either using a pipe network or carrier vessels. The power stations therefore need to be located in areas where offshore geological storage is possible, and where suitable port infrastructure exists. The UK government is pushing ahead with developing this type of facility in CCS clusters, such as in Teesside, Merseyside, Humberside and South Wales.
The report and the underpinning model therefore highlights the need for biomass crops to be grown relatively close to the BECCS facility it will be supplying, and combines this with land suitability considerations. The overall picture developed is for Miscanthus plantings to be largely in the East of England, supplying BECCS facilities in East Norfolk or Humber, with SRF planted on the England-Wales border supplying Merseyside and South Wales, and SRC willow being grown in the north west and the north, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and used largely in Merseyside and Teesside.
What does this mean for potential biomass producers in other areas of the UK? On this point it’s definitely worth noting what the report doesn’t consider – namely the potential for small-scale facilities using biomass for other purposes that could also capture carbon. So whilst large BECCS facilities are likely to be the biggest buyers of biomass in 2050, this does not preclude other forms of carbon sequestration, into building materials for example – as highlighted by the Climate Change Committee this is expected to provide around 5 MT of CO2 removal in 2050. And since an individual fibreboard manufacturing facility might have a requirement of 50,000 tonnes of biomass feedstock per year, there will still be plenty of opportunities for biomass producers across the UK.
The EIRO2.0: Bioenergy modelling final report is available here.
