Chris Huhne published the long awaited Electrictity Market Reform White Paper today. It outlines a vision for "secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity".
It includes a roadmap for renewables energy deployment to 2020.
Now, those that know me appreciate that I like a plan. This is why I welcome the detail provided by today's paper. If any government is serious about tackling issues such as a financial crisis, climate change crisis or biodiversity crisis, then it makes sense to have a clear plan.
The threat of climate change to wildlife is real. Yet another report emerged today illustrating the potential consequences of runaway climate change. I should declare a vested interest here: in my twenties I did butterfly research with one of the co-authors, Rob Wilson from Exeter University. But allegiances aside, it is in the interests of nature conservation to take swift action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This is why we support the energy revolution demanded by the climate crisis. Yet, our view is that this revolution must take place in harmony with the natural environment.
And this brings me back to the roadmap. I will not attempt to do just to the detail that was published this afternoon, but the inclusion of Tilbury Power Station as a case study in the section on biomass prompts an initial response.
Let's be clear, bioenergy from woodfuel could be an important source of renewable energy but it needs to be produced from sustainable sources, for example from the careful management of native woodlands. This in turn can have significant conservation benefits as many species thrive on well managed woods. However, the rapid development of large-scale electricity-only plants on the coast of the UK is creating substantial demand for imports of woody material to be used as a bioenergy feedstock. This could have very significant impacts on the natural habitats and even lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Here's a statistic to wake you up this morning: 37 large-scale biomass power generation plants have either been proposed, are in planning or in construction in the UK. The combined capacity is 3,950MW. This will require approximately 23.7 million tonnes of wood, which compares to the current 9 million tonnes that is produced from UK, much of which is already used by other industries. Do the maths. That's 14.7 million tonnes of important wood. The Decc report boasts that "the jetty at Tilbury has capacity to import 4m tonnes of biomass every year which can be used to generate heat, electricity or both."
We are just not convinced that this enormous amount of virgin wood can be sourced from the world market without detrimental impacts on forests, wildlife and the climate.
This is why the RSPB is arguing that in the forthcoming review of incentives for the renewable industry (banding of the Renewables Obligation), large scale bioenergy that uses imported feedstocks from virgin wood be removed from eligibility for the Renewables Obligation.
So, I am all for plans and I look forward to reading this one in more detail. But, I just hope that the plan includes the right safeguards so that there are no unintended consequences for nature.