I’ve looked into it and my conclusion fwiw is that adding BECCS power plants to the mix is a very effective and efficient way to deliver back-up power and carbon removal. From a business model perspective the 2nd one is most important. These are carbon removal plants with electricity as by-product. The payments should be for ‘capacity’ (firm generation) and for neg emissions. Not subsidies for biomass use (that is not what you want to encourage directly).
Anyways, I know you as someone who is open for various views. I would recommend the excellent work done by Forum for the Future to define the conditions for ‘BECCS done well’ in the UK.
And the blog by Jonathon Porritt (who you probably know as well) on this issue.
Margriet Kuijper sent this note by email:
This is a big topic in NL and UK also.
I’ve looked into it and my conclusion fwiw is that adding BECCS power plants to the mix is a very effective and efficient way to deliver back-up power and carbon removal. From a business model perspective the 2nd one is most important. These are carbon removal plants with electricity as by-product. The payments should be for ‘capacity’ (firm generation) and for neg emissions. Not subsidies for biomass use (that is not what you want to encourage directly).
Anyways, I know you as someone who is open for various views. I would recommend the excellent work done by Forum for the Future to define the conditions for ‘BECCS done well’ in the UK.
And the blog by Jonathon Porritt (who you probably know as well) on this issue.
Drax & Forum for the Future:
https://www.forumforthefuture.org/beccs-done-well-conditions-for-success-for-bioenergy-with-carbon-capture-and-storage
https://www.drax.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Drax-Response-to-BECCS-Done-Well.pdf
https://www.drax.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DR1908_Final-response-to-BECCS-DONE-WELL-Porritt-report_BF_V014.1.pdf
https://www.jonathonporritt.com/beccs-if-somethings-worth-doing-its-worth-doing-well/