Environmental legislation 'could boost biomass industry'

The introduction of environmental legislation next year could boost the biomass industry by promoting it as a fuel.

According to Will Rolls, information officer at the Biomass Energy Centre, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) - to be implemented in 2011 - could come as good news to those in the biomass field.

"An RHI is a good thing, we think it would support the development of the industry and jobs in the forestry industry supplying fuel," he commented.

Mr Rolls stated that it "would also promote biomass as a fuel", as it is aimed at giving support for the advancement of renewable heat technologies.

He added that while it is initially more expensive to establish the infrastructure for a biomass system, it ends up being cheaper to run, which is why the sector would benefit from support from the RHI.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has said that the initiative could help the government achieve its goal of using renewable energy to generate 12 per cent of heat by 2020, boosting the current figure of one per cent.

Posted by Joseph Hutton