Biomass uncertainty highlighted at wood conference

The difficulty of attracting investment for waste wood biomass facilities in the UK was highlighted at the Wood Recyclers Association (WRA) conference and awards 2013 yesterday (November 20).

Organised by letsrecycle.com and held at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, the event saw a number of speakers on issues affecting the wood recycling sector, such as biomass energy, fire safety and the future of the industry.

Speaking first during the morning session, chaired by WRA chairman Andy Hill, was independent consultant Adrian Judge, who left his role as head of waste investment the governments Green Investment Bank (GIB) earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story).

He said that the risk around the wood waste and biomass industry for investors was much greater than anywhere else in the renewable sector, adding that a difficult economy and rising domestic energy prices did not necessarily make it an attractive place to invest.

Mr Judge referred to the recent letter from recycling minister Dan Rogerson about Defras reduction in waste activites, and said: Defra is taking the foot off the gas entirely in the waste sector, leaving waste and biomass developments simply at the bottom of the list in terms of investment.

Speaking more generally about the wood recycling market, Mr Judge said: In reality the future is going to be quite a difficult one to predict and those that achieve will be the ones who can adapt with the market.

Later, independent energy and biomass consultant Neil Bailey who has spent 30 in the sector at the likes of RWE Npower Renewables, BP and most recently Centrica also highlighted the uncertainty surrounding biomass energy for the waste wood market as investors are hard to attract.

According to Mr Bailey, high levels of opposition from local campaign groups to various proposed biomass facilities have added to the difficulty of getting developments off the ground.

He said: You need someone to come in with some quite large project development fees and you need bankable investments. If you tick all these boxes you still need something of a leap of faith.

Timberpak

Also speaking at the conference, operations manager at Mark Hayton Timberpak the wood recycling arm of panel manufacturer Egger UK gave an overview of the company and the panelboard industry.

Mr Hayton said that Eggers panel board was made up of around 40% recycled wood: We wont go down the route of 100% recycled wood because we believe first and foremost in the quality of our product.

He added that the main issue for using recycled wood at Egger was the MDF in the waste stream that should not be there.

Mr Hayton said: MDF can be turned into MDF but that isnt something we do the time and money we are putting in is for better segregation technology. The best use of MDF is for energy otherwise you have to put it into a hole in the ground and we dont want to do that.

Responding later to a question from the audience about whether grades A and B wood should be processed at biomass facilities, Mr Hayton said: In an ideal world you would just get that B wood for production but we dont live in an ideal world. So we can take grades A, B and C as long as we dont get MDF.

Also answering the question, consultant Neil Bailey agreed: You can never get a perfect grade you are always going to get a blend.

Peter Butt

Opening the afternoon session at the conference, WRA executive director Peter Butt urged for more communication and sharing between both members and regulators.
He said: We are getting to know regulators and I do believe we are starting to make some serious progress. That is a big change to where we were before I started a few years ago when the communication was not as good.

Mr Butt also warned against ultra-caution in the industry and spending too much time worrying about risk and not looking at the evidence.

He said: Wood is, always has been and always will be a low risk material and that is a government statement.

The conference also heard presentations on: environmental nuisances from the Environment Agencys Maggie Dutton; fire safety from the Cambridge Fire and Rescue Services Alan Brown; community engagement at wood recycling sites from Lee Spicer, operations manager at Shorts Group; and the future for recycled wood and energy from Gaynor Hartnell, former REA chief executive.