December 11, 2024
On the 16th and 17th of October 2024, the Association for Renewable Energy & Clean Technology (REA) held the annual conference of its Wood Heat Forum. Delegates from across the biomass sector gathered at the Delta Nottingham Belfry Hotel to discuss and debate the challenges in front of the industry today.
Here are five of the key points from another fascinating and inspirational conference.
The wood heat sector must speak with unity and conviction
Chairman of the Wood Heat Forum, Terence McCracken, gave the opening address to the conference, which he used to call upon the industry to speak out against the misconceptions about wood heat, mistreatment of the industry, and misalignment of policy.
Biomass heating is still attacked for harming air quality, when 100% of RHI-installed boilers passed the particulate emissions test under the threshold of 30g/GJ, with an average of 7g/GJ.
When all of biomass is tarred with the same brush after businesses like Drax are exposed; when the government is willing to ban biomass pellets from Russia, but not Russian oil; when false accusations about air quality are casually levelled at the industry, biomass must stand up for itself, and all of those who represent the industry must be armed with facts and willing to use them.
The UK could be self-sufficient in wood fuel
In the panel session ‘Evolving Home-Grown Biomass’, Hugh Montgomery from Land Energy argued that the UK should be rebuilding as a forest nation. The environmental credentials of biomass and the carbon reduction that it offers will only improve as we reforest the UK.
Hugh argued that a domestic wood fuel supply would ensure that money for fuel stays in the country and the community.
Neil Harrison from Reheat added from the floor that becoming self-sufficient in wood fuel supply is only a matter of political will, and MPs should find it easy to support a local wood heat economy, where money for fuel stays in the country and the community.
The state of the UK biomass sector
Mark Sommerfield, Deputy Director of Policy at the REA, had met with policymakers and civil servants, and welcomed the new government’s ‘broad support’ for biomass, which the industry could not take for granted. However, he added that the government’s plans ‘leave a lot to be desired’.
The Warm Homes Plan includes grants for local authorities in England to ‘install energy performance measures and low carbon heating’, including insulation, solar panels, and air source heat pumps, in privately-owned low-income households with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) between D and G.
That plan does not include funding for biomass, which is in some cases the only viable method of renewable heating.
Tunde Ojetola, Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), provided an update on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), and reminded the conference that early adopters of the non-domestic RHI would leave the scheme in 2031.
Ojetola also invited the conference to consider whether DESNZ should maintain the policy that an RHI-compliant heat meter should be replaced after ten years, and to advise the department on what evidence that assumption should change.
Austria and Germany are still leading the way in biomass support
Silvio Spiess, Innasol CEO, presented the developments in European biomass markets, with a focus on two countries that are setting the example for state-supported decarbonisation — Austria and Germany.
2024 sees the Austrian biomass heat market at an all-time high, thanks to a 75% grant (up to €20,000) for replacing fossil fuel heating with wood heat. As well as the generous new scheme, take-up was heavily influenced by the 2020 ban on oil and coal heating for new buildings, uncertainty about Russian oil and gas, and the high energy prices of 2021 and 2022.
Germany also offers a substantial grant for biomass heat (€30,000 or 70% of installation cost), which launched in Q2 of 2024. To qualify for the scheme, a biomass boiler must have an electrostatic precipitation filter.
However, the scheme in Germany is more controversial, and has not had the same impact as Austria’s. That is due to several factors, including earlier schemes that were even more generous, an abandoned ban on fossil fuels, and resulting political uncertainty, confusion, and backlash.
How the wood heat sector can and should engage with the new government
In the final panel of the conference, Samantha Smith, Head of Biomass at the REA, reiterated the importance of the sector ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ when presenting messages to the government. That, she argued, would start to cut through. She added that presenting compelling case studies would add the ‘colour’ that MPs care about. Smith also reassured the conference that the industry does not need to win over all 650 MPs, but that 15-30 committed legislators would be enough to start change.
Mark Lebus, CEO of LC Energy, agreed and suggested that the industry is not successfully managing the narrative of biomass heat. Politicians, he argued, deal in terms of risk, and the sector could drive change by communicating the key things that would help to successfully deliver initiatives like the Warm Homes Scheme. Rather than responding to attacks, Lebus said, the industry should stay on the front foot and remain proactive with its messaging.
The next step for wood heat
The conference ended on a highly positive note, with the chair and delegates sharing an optimism about the opportunities ahead, and an appetite to tackle the challenges in front of the industry.
Wood heat remains the most reliable, effective, and renewable alternative to fossil fuel heating for many off-grid and difficult-to-insulate buildings, and the UK’s commitment to Net Zero remains legally binding.
If your business is hoping to achieve energy independence and dramatically reduce your heating bills, Innasol is on hand to assist. Call 01621 892613 for a no-obligation conversation with a renewable energy expert near you.
