Drax faced with UK biomass sustainability investigation and US pollution notice as Selby plant CCS consultation launches

OFGEM, the UK’s energy regulator, has launched a formal investigation into power company Drax to determine if the wood pellets burnt to generate electricity at its Selby plant breach sustainability rules. The regulator said however that the opening of this investigation does not imply that it has previously made “any findings about possible non-compliance”. 

Separately, in Mississippi, US, a mill owned by Drax has reportedly violated air pollution limits, while in the UK a public consultation into using carbon capture at Drax’s Selby biomass power plant has launched.  

Sustainable biomass?

Ofgem began looking into whether the energy company had complied with the UK’s biomass sustainability rules last year, after a BBC documentary questioned whether the wood that Drax had procured from forests in Canada was sustainably sourced. 

Drax provided documentation to Ofgem showing that all the Canadian woody biomass it used in 2021 and 2022 was certified under the Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP), an industry established group which sets standards for sustainable forest management. The regulator then commissioned a third party to do an additional audit. 

The third party, US-based consulting group Black and Veatch (B&V), was also selected by Drax in 2021 to help the company with research, engineering and technical support over a three-year period. 

While Drax maintains that the wood it uses is sustainable, the use of biomass as a renewable energy source has come under increased scrutiny in recent years.  

The major source of biomass burnt in UK power stations is wood pellets, the vast majority of which are imported from the US and Canada on enormous vessels that are in transit for 21 days. Drax for instance receives 17 wood pellet deliveries a day, and the plant operates 24 hours a day, six days a week. “The energy required to transport the pellets adds to their lifecycle emissions and uses up the very fossil fuels the pellets are supposed to replace,” notes Selaine Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon. 

Though advocates for biomass argue that all emissions released are offset by the growth of new trees to replace those harvested for burning, trees only grow in their carbon-storing potential as they age.  

Furthermore, emissions from cutting down trees are attributed to the land-use sector rather than the energy-generation sector. And, when burned, wood releases far more carbon into the atmosphere than burning coal, say almost 800 scientists who called for restrictions on the use of forest biomass in a letter written to the European parliament. 

Drax has since responded to the stated launch of Ofgem’s formal investigation saying that like all energy generators, it receives regular requests from Ofgem and continues to cooperate fully throughout this process.  

“Last year Drax appointed a third party to independently verify the accuracy of its biomass sustainability and profiling data as part of an ongoing process. Drax is confident in the compliance of its biomass with the Renewables Obligation criteria,” the firm said. 

Air pollution breaches

The recently reported pollution breach by Amite, a wood pellet mill near the town of Gloster, Mississippi, is not the first.  

In 2021, Amite was fined US$2.5m by the Mississippi Department for Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and ordered to install a new regenerative catalytic oxidiser to reduce emissions after breaching air pollution rules. The fine related to breaches regarding levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) at Amite’s plant. 

VOCs are a collection of carbon-based chemicals that can create a photochemical smog under certain conditions, which can cause breathing-problems, especially for elderly people, children, and sufferers of asthma and other lung conditions. 

According to the Guardian, the new notice of violation notes that the company was permitted to emit 24 t/y of hazardous air pollutants on a rolling 12-month basis, but reached as much as 37 t between January 2021 and December 2022, peaking in July 2022.  

When asked by the MDEQ for an explanation and what action it had taken to correct the violation, Drax said that pellet production was a relatively young industry, adding: “Several wood pellet facilities, not only Amite BioEnergy, initially underestimated emissions in connection with the permitting of these facilities.” 

“Amite BioEnergy has a history of acting quickly to update emissions and permits upon discovery of new emission factors and new information pertaining to other pellet production plants,” the firm added. 

It is unclear whether the latest breach will lead to a financial penalty, though critics of the company point out that being fined millions is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the billions the company receives from the UK government in the form of green energy subsidies. 

Open consultation

In a separate development, the UK Environment Agency has launched a consultation on Drax's proposals to develop bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at its Selby power station,  to prevent the majority of CO2 emitted during electricity generation from entering the atmosphere.  

The captured CO2 captured will then be transported via a pipeline for permanent storage under the North Sea. 

Kathryn Richardson, Environment Manager at the Environment Agency said: “We’re now seeking views from the local community and interested groups on this application. We encourage them to come and see us at our engagement events so they can find out more and view the plans in detail.” 

The consultation will run from 26 May 2023 to 29 June 2023 and will include a drop-in event in Drax village and a virtual drop-in session.