£300m biomass fund promises nine steps towards green targets

Published Date: 10 November 2009
By Rosemary Gallagher
A £300 million fund being launched to build nine biomass heat and power plants across Scotland will help the country reach its ambitious renewable energy targets, it has been claimed.
The Scottish Government has set a target of 50 per cent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources, such as wind, wave, hydro, biomass and solar, by 2020. It also wants 11 per cent of heat to come from renewables by that point. Scottish Renewables, a trade body, said biomass was vital to meeting the second target in particular. The biomass fund, which is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, is being launched by Invicta Capital, a private client investment firm. Invicta has already gained planning permission for two biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plants to be built in Caithness. It has outline planning permission for a further seven plants across Scotland.Niall Bamford, managing director of Invicta, said it had to raise a minimum of £35m by February to enable it to start building the first plant at Georgemass in Caithness. Construction will start in the first quarter of next year and the aim is to have all nine sites up and running within three years.Bamford said: "Biomass is part of our energy solution. It will never provide for all of our needs." The fund's launch yesterday came on the same day as the UK government approved ten sites in England and Wales for new nuclear power stations, most of them on the sites of existing plants. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said nuclear was "proven and reliable".However, the Scottish Government remains opposed to building nuclear plants and can effectively veto them through planning powers held at Holyrood. David Hunter, international business manager for electricity at consultancy firm McKinnon & Clarke, said: "Biomass is only one of many energy sources – it's never likely to be a leading technology. But it is good to look into such areas and invest in them."He added that existing biomass plants in Scotland tended to be relatively small scale.Hunter warned that the SNP would come under pressure to explain what viable alternatives it had to nuclear. He said renewables were unlikely to meet more than about 30 per cent of the country's energy needs.For the launch of its biomass fund, Invicta has brought together a consortium including New Park Management, a private sector developer of science and technology parks. New Park will provide access to a number of development sites, planning advice and building management services. New Park is part of the Scottish Enterprise Energy Technology Centre consortium.An electricity purchase agreement is currently being negotiated by Invicta with a UK utility. Bamford said he was in discussion with at number of utility firms, including Scottish ones.The nine plants will be located on existing industrial and business development parks or brown field sites in Scotland, with a total generating capacity of up to 90MW of electricity, enough to supply 140,000 homes. The plants will be powered by wood.Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "The industry has the potential to create jobs and investment in rural areas of Scotland, as that is where the fuel source is."