Drax Group is ready and waiting to transform itself into a renewable power producer, chief executive Dorothy Thompson said August 2. By co-firing biomass, the 4-GW coal-fired generator produced around 6% of the UK's renewable power in the first half of 2011, "double the renewable output of any other facility," Thompson said. "However, we continue to operate at less than our installed renewable capacity because of the current low level of regulatory support for electricity produced by burning sustainable biomass instead of coal." The chief executive welcomed publication of the government's Renewable Energy Roadmap, which recognized that burning biomass in place of coal could provide a third or more (6 GW) of the UK's required renewable power by 2020. Drax was testing varying levels, types, and load factors of biomass production to understand the economics of ordinary co-firing versus enhanced co-firing and 100% converted biomass-fired (NB RWE npower wants to convert its 1,100-MW Tilbury coal plant into a 750-MW 100% biomass plant - see PiE 599/8). Results "confirm Drax can be predominantly biomass-fuelled," Thompson said. She was upbeat on the cost and sourcing outlook for biomass, with sustainable supplies available in the US, for instance, given a lead time of around 18 months. "By 2020 the UK could access biomass equivalent to 20% of primary energy demand," the company said.
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