New standalone biomass power plants in Britain will not be eligible for some subsidies unless they generate heat at the same time, under new government proposals, meaning many new plants could be canceled, an industry lobby said.
The challenge is that since that combined heat and power (CHP) outputs cannot easily be built into projects that had already been approved, therefore many projects could be scrapped.
CHP is seen as much more efficient as the heat from power generation is used to warm homes and businesses.
The government is steering a landmark energy bill through parliament that aims to unlock 168 billion dollars of new energy investment to replace ageing capacity and lower carbon emissions.
This means that large scale, controversial imports of wood pellets to Britain will continue.
Large generators switching to biomass from coal will have subsidies phased out by 2027, meaning they will then have to pay all the costs of burning wood instead of the highly-polluting fossil fuel.
Britain's energy ministry said in a statement that it had always been clear that biomass is a transitional technology, "to be replaced by other, lower carbon forms of renewable energy in the medium to long term".
Green groups are concerned that growth in Britain's bioenergy industry will mean the felling of virgin forests for fuel, a practice that was commonplace in Europe and North America before coal was used to power the industrial revolution.
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