The Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) has criticised the Scottish National Party (SNP) over its backing for a network of biomass power plants in Scotland which it says could damage existing wood-using industries.
A new report commissioned by ConFor, the UK Forest Products Association and the Wood Panel Industries Federation predicts that at the current rate of growth, demand for fuel for energy could exceed British-grown wood production as early as next year.
Dash to Biomass by John Clegg Consulting points out that this is before the biggest planned biomass plants are built.
ConFor is urging the SNP, which forms the minority Scottish government, to reconsider its commitment to biomass power in its “green revolution”.
“It has some of the most ambitious green targets of any UK party, including a 42% carbon emissions reduction in Scotland by 2020,” said ConFor chief executive Stuart Goodall. “But its support for the dash to biomass as part of this will create an artificial market and demand for wood that isn’t there.”
Besides threatening jobs in the timber and wood panels industries by causing wood fibre shortages and price inflation, the growth of the biomass energy sector will also undermine the SNP’s green objectives, said the backers of the new report.
“Timber products store carbon, but burning wood releases it to the atmosphere,”said Mr Goodall.
He also said that Scottish and UK governments originally intended the renewables grants, which have helped fund big power projects, for smaller local heat and power plants.
“But clearly the big power generators did the sums and found the incentives attractive,” he said.
