ENERGY Minister Fergus Ewing yesterday outlined his support for small-scale biomass plants before a meeting with timber industry representatives in the north today.
Small-scale operations burning materials like wood, feathers, manure and even sewage are much more efficient at generating electricity than large exclusively wood-burning processes, he claims.
Last week Mr Ewing launched a consultation on plans to remove financial support for large-scale biomass electricity generators and he urged the UK Government to do the same. Yesterday he said: “Biomass is particularly valuable and efficient when it is used on a small scale for heat generation. But I have grave concerns about the UK Government’s ambition for biomass electricity. Large-scale woody biomass used for electricity generation is much less efficient than smaller-scale neighbourhood plants.”
He said that the huge electricity plants demand vast quantities of wood – far more than the UK can produce. “Even if every stick of wood grown commercially in the UK went to biomass, it would supply less than a third of the required fuel,” he added.
The MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber added: “This government has ambitious targets for renewables. But we do not believe these targets should be met by putting traditional industries at risk. Removing the subsidy for large-scale biomass in Scotland will protect skilled rural jobs which rely on wood.”
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