Forth Energy consultation.
February 12, 2010 by Ally Forth Energy have kindly sent us through electronic versions of the banners they plan to display at Ocean Terminal this weekend - at an event where you're invited to have your say on the plans. There's also been a couple of articles in the press about it recently.
"Power plant proposals go against the grain", seemed to be largely based on this post we put on our blog the week before.
In the Scotsman, a couple of days later there was also "Biomass Plant Could Power Edinburgh" that looks like a fairly uncritical regurgitation of a Forth Energy press release.
And we shouldn't let you proceed to the banners without mentioning the views of expert planner Dave - on the Auchterness blog, who seems thoroughly overawed with the dynamism of Forth Energy.
If you struggle to read these banners in all their glory, you can click on the 'Full' icon at the bottom of them to see them in 'full screen mode'.
Here's Banner 1:
Here's Banner 2:
Here's Banner 3:
It's interesting to note that there are no 'artists impressions' of what the plant will look like from Ocean Drive, Leith Links, and Sandport Place. Are there any graphic designers out there who might want to help Forth Energy out on this one? We know there's some read this blog.
And for background, we'd like to provide you with some extra web resources to consider.
In Port Talbot, Wales, where there's two large Biomass plants in the offing, including the largest one in the world - the locals aren't altogether happy. They even made a YouTube video of their protest. They reckon that the two plants proposed for Port Talbot and Holyhead, will require a forest half the size of Wales to provide them with fuel. The combined output of those plants is 650MW. The combined output of the four plants proposed by Forth Energy is not far short of this at 560MW. So, it looks like Forth Energy will need to find sustainably managed biomass sources equivalent to a forest the size of the other half of Wales or a quarter of Scotland, if you prefer a more local unit.
Having digested these figures, it's clear why Forth Energy aren't keen to commit to using only FSC certified fuel in their power plants. According to the latest FSC annual report, it turns out that there's only 112048.12 square kilmeters of FSC certified forest in the world - this equals five times the area of Wales, or ten times the area that Forth Energy needs to supply their plant, but that area of forest is already supplying all the timber to B&Q, and countless other 'green' wood users - potentially including those two giant biomass plants planned for Wales.
According to the Ecologist at least 20% of the global wood trade comprises of wood from illegal or suspicious sources, where the forests are not managed sustainably - the trees that are cut down are not replaced. Much of this 'illegal wood' is said to come from Russia. Burning this type of wood in a power station is certainly not carbon neutral or renewable. Whilst Forth Energy have given Greener Leith a verbal commitment not to prop up 'the Russian mafia' when buying fuel for their plants, it's clear some sort of annual, independently verified and publicly disclosed audit of their fuel sources will be required to make sure that the biomass used in the plants is indeed truly 'renewable'. If the plants are built without this commitment, how will anyone know where the ships have come from and what has been burnt in there?
Without some form of public disclosure, we see no reason why the plants should benefit from the government subsidies provided to renewable energy generators. And these subsidies could be considerable. Power generated from biomass 'energy crops' qualifies for two Renewable Obligations Certificates (ROC) per MWh. The 'buy-out' price for a ROC was £37.19 in the last financial year. So, for every hour that the proposed Leith energy plant runs at it's proposed 200Mw capacity, it could potentially receive up to £14,876 worth of ROCs - and ultimately it is utility company customers who pay this through their fuel bills. Would you be happy to be subsidising these plants if you thought that some of the fuel came from unsustainble sources?
Biomass, Energy & Climate Change, Planning and Regeneration 
Reader Comments (3)
Another question is "why trees?". I've had more than one conversation recently where someone told me about how great it is that we're going to be turning all our household waste into electricity in this new biomass plant. They were surprised when I corrected their assumption about the fuel for this proposed plant. But that got me thinking - why are we planning to grow and burn thousands of trees to satisfy our energy needs when every day a whole train load of waste leaves Powderhall bound for a great big hole in the ground near Dunbar?
I do feel that the focus on the visual impact of this plant in some of the negative reporting is a bit silly. We're not talking about a proposal for the Cairgorms or the Isle of Skye here, or even the heart of the Old Town. Leith Docks has been an industrial area for generations and already has some large industrial buildings that can be seen from many miles around. As long as an element of sensitivity is applied to the design of the building I don't see a problem, and I think we're detracting from the real issues of whether it will actually live up to all the claims that Forth Energy are making about it.
The trouble with Biomass - as we've tried to explain in this post - is that the source of the fuel is critical to judging how 'sustainable' it is. Current government policy treats all Biomass as 'renewable' - and that's why Forth Energy happily claim the Biomass plant is generating 'renewable' energy, even though, in theory, whole swathes of virgin forests could be cut down to fuel the Biomass plant - without a single 'replacement' tree being planted.
Forth Energy say that they won't do this, and that all their wood will be sourced from 'sustainable' sources, but what does that mean? There are a lot of other biomass plants planned in the UK, and there's going to be a lot of competition for fuel supplies. Without some form of certification, or independent, public audit, that 'sustainable' claim could turn out to be pretty meaningless. Afterall, how will anyone know what Forth Energy choose to burn in there, and where it's come from?
With regards to fuels other than wood, there's been no indication in the scoping documents that domestic rubbish would be burnt in the plant - and if they did go down that route then they'd probably need to add some serious 'scrubbing' equipment to make sure no noxious chemicals are emitted from the smokestack. However, "biomass" does cover a multitude of sins - one source we've wondered about is the "sludge cake" from the nearby Seafield sewerage plant!