British biomass problem

May 28, 2012, London, UK – Britain is slowly switching to burning
biomass as a source of renewable electricity, but with little domestic
supply, it must rely on imports to keep the industry afloat.

According to an analysis by Reuters, by importing most of the biomass from foreign countries, it could be vulnerable to supply disruptions, as well as increasing its carbon emissions through the shipping process. But, Britain is pushing forward and helping reach the UK's goal of 15 percent of its energy by 2020 being from renewable sources.

This is primarily being accomplished by co-firing biomass with coal, or retro-fitting old coal-fired plants to run on biomass.

"Biomass is perfect for baseload generation
capacity because it's always available, it's not like wind power or
solar," said Hannes Lechner, head of bioenergy at consultancy Poyry.

For more on Britain's biomass situation, please read the complete article online at Reuters.