Government Task Force is Cool over Renewable Heat
26/10/05

ClA Wales says it's bitterly disappointed that with Britain facing one of the coldest winters in a decade a Government task force has snubbed the cheaper, greener, fuel sector. The Biomass Task Force, headed by Sir Ben Gill, ex president of the National Farmers' Union, has dismissed one of the most effective policy options for reducing greenhouse gases and ensuring consumers and businesses can choose to use renewable energy to heat their homes and premises.

It is claiming in its final report that a Renewable Heat Obligation which would enable a percentage of heat to be produced from biomass boilers using renewable resources would be "unworkable"1. The CLA has been encouraging landowners and farmers in Wales to look at biomass options as markets for food crops diminish.

CLA President Mark Hudson who farms near Ruthin said: "Britain is predicted to be facing one of the coldest winters in a decade and consumers and businesses are experiencing sharp rises in energy bills. Our ageing nuclear power plants mean that our future energy supply is uncertain.

"Renewable heat offers a far greater carbon saving at a much lower cost than renewable electricity. With this backdrop, we are astonished that the Biomass Task Force is rejecting the Renewable Heat Obligation model.

"It is a model which has already successfully increased private investment in the electricity sector and which we are confident would incentivise the further development of renewable heat technologies; providing wide benefits in terms of cheap heat as well as opportunities for rural businesses.

"Many of the renewable heat technologies, such as ground source heat and biomass heat-only and Combined Heat and Power plants, are long-term, stable and secure options for renewable energy. But the sector needs long-term, stable and secure commitments from Government in order to have the confidence, and planning permission, to invest in the technologies.

"We strongly urge Government to rebalance its Renewable Obligation policy to include heat from sustainable sources."

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