Mixed messages on biofuel stunting renewable growth

BOTH the UK and Scottish governments have set themselves ambitious targets for increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable sources and have provided strong financial incentives.

Wind energy, with its feed-in tariffs, has captured the headlines, but this week an expert has claimed that another renewable energy source is receiving, at best, mixed messages from government.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Scottish Society for Crop Research in Dundee, Professor Martin Tangney said that other countries were far more positive about the benefits that biofuel could bring and were already reaping the rewards.

"Look at the wind industry where there are strong positive messages encouraging investment whereas the biofuel sector looks as if it has been left behind."

Prof Tangney, director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Napier University in Edinburgh, pointed to the vast amount of biofuel now being produced in countries such as Brazil. More ethanol is now produced there than in any other country and two years ago, production outstripped petrol, which he said was now the alternative source of power.

He predicted that if the politicians in the UK did not provide incentives for the industry then the only way we would reach targets in this country would be if we imported biofuel.

The original intention was that the UK would supply 5 per cent of its fuel from renewable sources by 2011, but this has been pushed back to 2013 because, Prof Tangney said, there was not the same impetus behind the renewable fuel sector as there has been behind the renewable power one. He also criticised the tax regime in which biofuel had to compete.

Much of the increase in renewable fuel in Brazil has come from the sugar cane crop, which can return eight times the energy in fuel than it consumes.

When asked for a comparable crop that could do the same in the UK, Tangney originally came up with sugar beet. There is already a large processing factory operated by British Sugar at Wissington. He said this was an example of how to maximise the output from a crop, as it not only produced refined sugar but also provided the raw material for bioethanol.

He suggested wheat as an option, as yields of wheat grown in this country are high. However, when questioned on how best to progress with a biofuel scheme, he strongly advised that it should be led by industry.

This was not the type of project for farmers to "grow and hope", he said.

"Unless you have a business prepared to go into the biofuel industry and provide long-term contracts, then do not start. Technology is not the problem, long-term investment and commitment are both necessary."

For a generation largely powered by fossil fuels, he left them with the thought: "Oil supply will be seen as a small blip in fuel supply, with biofuels taking over in the near future."