Gill Alker of Thames Valley Energy attended to discuss
short rotation coppicing and energy crops, some of the concerns
surrounding these issues and the potential for generating energy
crops in the locality.
Of the main widely acknowledged
concerns raised around energy crops, the Forum was
advised:
- Energy crops are
carbon neutral because the burning of these materials releases only
the carbon already taken out of the atmosphere when the trees were
growing. The only long term emissions
generated would be that used in the processing of the wood, to fuel
chipping machines and haulage. These
emissions could be minimised by using bio-ethanol or bio-diesel and
using local crops to fuel local boilers.
- In terms of
biodiversity, the Game Conservancy Trust was funded to carry out a
five year investigation of the effects of energy crops on local
flora and fauna. It found that compared
to arable crops, energy crops encouraged greater numbers and
varieties of birdlife, with levels of migrant birds similar to
those found in hedgerows, apart from the numbers of skylarks and
lapwings, which were lower. Overall,
energy crops encouraged higher numbers of insects and
invertebrates, small mammals, butterflies and species of plant,
than arable land.
- The affect on the
landscape had also been an issue and the Forum was advised that any
proposed new energy crop planting was assessed by the Forestry
Commission for landscape impact and also widely consulted
upon. There were available many
guidelines to help make energy crops more sympathetic to the local
landscape and even at maximum demand for energy crops, it was
estimated that the land area needed would not be excessive, though
the increase on existing energy crop provision to meet the targets
set, would be substantial. Current
planting of 250 hectares would need increasing to 4,000 hectares
within the next 2 – 3 years.
The Forum was advised that
there were currently incentives available for farmers to plant
energy crops as the use of biomass with coal was being promoted by
the government. From 2009 – 2016
all coal powered power stations would be required to burn a
proportion of biomass to obtain their “green
certificate”. Ideally this would
be sourced from a 50 mile radius of the power station, as whilst
biomass could be imported, this would negate many of the benefits
of local provision. The long term
vision was of decentralised power production which used locally
produced crops.
The Forum was shown examples of
current best practice in the region, which included:
- Buckinghamshire
County Council had an 80 kilowatt boiler which used 50-60 tonnes of
woodchip per annum to provide energy for a residential education
centre
- A primary school in
Buckinghamshire in the Diocese of Oxford used a 60kw boiler burning
30 tonnes of woodchip per annum to heat the school
- A horticultural
nursery in Wexham had a 600kw boiler,
burning 300 tonnes of woodchip per annum
- A farmer in
Yorkshire used a 100kw boiler
using 60 tonnes of woodchip per annum to provide heat for offices
and business units
The Forum was advised that
willow was the recommended energy crop to grow. In terms of the economics for farmers considering
planting energy crops, there was currently a grant available of
£1,000 per hectare planted and it was believed that the
income was comparable to that from arable crops.
The Forum discussed the boiler
proposed as part of the Bracknell Forest Town Centre
Regeneration. It was anticipated that
if this part of the project did go ahead, which was uncertain,
13,000 tonnes of woodchip would be needed per annum, which would
equate to approximately 1,000 hectares of energy crops. This would provide heat and electrical energy for
the town centre with negligible emissions and could use the
Councils bio-products, if processed correctly.
The Forum thanked Gill for a
very interesting and informative presentation.