Yahoo Finance ‘Green’ Tories attempt to block funding for Drax carbon capture project
The Energy Secretary is facing a revolt from green Tories over plans to approve millions of pounds in subsidies for Drax, the controversial wood-burning power station.
Claire Coutinho will this week decide if Drax is allowed to retrofit carbon capture plants onto generating units responsible for burning 8m tonnes of wood a year.
Her decision will be followed by a consultation on whether to continue a billpayer-backed subsidy scheme that last year earned Drax £617m.
Drax claims the carbon storage plants would make it the world’s first carbon-negative power station – meaning it removes more CO2 from the air than it produces.
It has published research commissioned from Baringa, an independent consultancy, suggesting the plant would strip 8m tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually.
Baringa’s report said: “Drax provides the only credible option for large-scale, near-term carbon removals – converting two boiler units would remove 8m tonnes of CO2 a year, roughly equivalent to cancelling all departing flights from Heathrow for a year.”
However, three Tory MPs have criticised plans to continue subsidies for Drax as they argue that the clear-cutting of forests in North America destroys the environment.
Last year, Drax received around £617m from household bills in return for providing more than 4pc of the UK’s power.
Peter Bottomley MP said: “The proposed technology is not proven.
“There must be no further subsidies for burning trees in our power stations beyond the current 2027 contracts. The Government should instead focus on increasing tree cover and backing wind, solar and nuclear energy.”
Schemes like Drax’s, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or Beccs, are highly controversial because green groups argue that cutting down forests to generate electricity ruins the environment.
Beccs is based on the idea that as trees grow they capture CO2 from the air.
If they are burned then that CO2 is released back into the air so there is no overall change.
However, if that CO2 is captured and buried underground, as Drax proposes, then it is removed from the atmosphere permanently – potentially making Drax carbon negative.
Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax, said the Baringa research shows how his company “offers the most cost-effective, straightforward and efficient way to help the country meet climate targets and could save billions of pounds, remove millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere”.
Drax once used coal but now relies on wood imported mainly from US forests after UK energy policy deemed the fossil fuel to be too environmentally damaging.
Using wood also enabled Drax to claim green energy subsidies through Renewable Obligation Certificates or ROCs.
The subsidies mean Drax gets around £51 per megawatt hour – significantly cheaper than most offshore wind and less than half the subsidies that will go to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station when it starts operating towards 2030.
ROCs are, however, due to expire in 2027 – and Drax’s carbon capture units, which would be eligible for other subsidies, will not be installed until 2030. This means the power station needs a “bridging subsidy”.
Selaine Saxby MP said: “There are serious questions about whether burning wood pellets for energy is truly sustainable and whether the increase in consumers’ energy bills is justified.
“Until those questions can be satisfactorily answered, many conservatives will rightly ask whether agreeing to billions of pounds more in subsidies represents value for money.”
Philip Dunne MP added: “There are questions over the sustainability of imported wood pellets and increased competing demand for home-sourced timber and waste wood. So the Government should apply strict criteria to ensure sustainability of biomass wood imports for energy generation.”
A spokesman for Drax said: “Our investment in this scheme could deliver up to 10,000 high-skilled jobs across the UK at the peak of the project’s construction, as well as safeguarding up to 7,000 direct and supply chain jobs.”
