Solar installations offer a cheaper alternative to biomass over the lifetime of a system according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which also claims that biomass produces higher carbon emissions than coal and natural gas.
The new study from the US-based environmental advocacy group has examined the full system costs of renewables like wind and solar relative to biomass under carrying assumptions about the total economic costs of each.
The analysis took into account the latest technology costs, the cost of ensuring reliability of supply, and carbon costs and concluded that in 2020, biomass will be more costly than wind and solar alternatives.
This is due in part to the continually falling costs of these renewable technologies which are expected to continue into the next decade. Meanwhile, biomass conversion is already a mature technology and so the potential for technology costs to fall is limited.
This means that comparatively little capital cost reduction is expected over time while fuel costs, which make up the bulk of biomass costs, are highly uncertain whereas solar installations do not carry this lifetime cost.
Sasha Stashwick, a senior advocate with NRDC, said: “The economics of biomass don’t make sense as the UK strives to replace coal and decarbonize its power sector. This report clearly indicates that when you account for total economic costs, cleaner alternatives like wind and solar are the lower cost solution for a coal-free UK. It’s just good economic sense.”
The report also pointed to scientific evidence from the former Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and elsewhere that shows many forms of biomass – especially biomass from forests – produce higher carbon emissions than even fossil fuels.
All biomass is still treated as a “carbon neutral” fuel in the UK, with utilities only required to account for emissions associated with the cultivation, processing, and transport of biomass and not its burning.
The study argues that the true costs of pollution, even for scenarios that do not include a full accounting of biomass carbon emissions, further adds to the case against the technology versus low carbon alternatives.
NRDC has therefore called on government to reform the UK’s bioenergy policies so as not to encourage biomass, which it dubs as one of the “more expensive and dirtier solutions to the country’s energy needs”.
Historically, biomass has received significant levels of support from government under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) by dominating deployment under the scheme. However, policy is shifting around the technology, with DECC including proposals in a consultation released in March to reduce the incentives available for biomass under the non-domestic RHI scheme.
The new Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently showed signs of the government’s increasing shift away from biomass by implementing a surprise cut to RHI support for biomass CHP systems.