And Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of the Prospect trade union, responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to subsidy arrangements at Drax, said the new agreement provides savings for consumer as well as security for the workers at Drax and for energy supplies.
Campaigners have long questioned the role of biomass in cutting carbon emissions and accused Drax of sourcing the wood pellets used in its plant from environmentally important forests, although the company has said it is confident its biomass is sustainable and legally harvested.
The Government has announced that from 2027, when the existing payments for the North Yorkshire biomass power plant are due to run out, a new support scheme will come into effect until 2031 which reduces electricity generation, halves subsidies and imposes new sustainability requirements.
Ministers also said unabated biomass is not a long-term solution, and they are reviewing the role biomass fitted with technology to capture and store carbon emissions could play in cutting UK climate pollution to net zero by 2050.
Responding to the announcement, Clare Oxborrow, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said that at a time when funding is being cut or curtailed in many areas, “it’s disappointing that the UK’s biggest carbon emitter is being given yet more public money at a cost to people and the environment”.
