Latest stage in the 'green revolution' for Yorkshire

THE announcement of plans for a large biomass power station on the banks of the Humber mark just the latest stage in Yorkshire's green energy revolution.

The proposals unveiled yesterday by Danish power firm Dong Energy, to power half a million homes by burning wood or other plant matter at a new facility in Hull's docklands, sit alongside a range of innovative schemes being drawn up across the region to slash greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining Yorkshire's role as a key energy supplier.

The numerous coal-fired power stations and other heavy industries located in the region have been major economic drivers for many years, but have also left Yorkshire saddled with the unwanted tag of being Britain's biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter – and the second most polluting region in Europe.

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For regional planners, a key aim for the coming decade is therefore to transform that status and place Yorkshire squarely at the forefront of the emerging low carbon economy.

Last month saw the announcement of a huge off-shore wind farm off the Yorkshire coast at Hornsea, with the potential to power more than 2.5 million homes.

Work is also expected to start soon on the world's biggest "clean coal" power station at Hatfield, near Doncaster, which will use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to collect CO2 emissions before they are released and bury them safely underground in depleted oil and gas fields beneath the North Sea.

In the long term, the region's low carbon advisory body CO2Sense Yorkshire is drawing up ambitious plans to develop a massive CCS network across Yorkshire over the next 20 years, using a network of pipelines to carry CO2 from all the major polluters out to the North Sea gas fields. The agency believes that scheme alone has the potential to slash the UK's entire carbon emissions by as much as 10 per cent.

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Biomass, too, will play its part. Burning plant matter for fuel is considered a renewable energy, the process deemed carbon-neutral overall as long as sustainably sourced material is used.

According to Jo Adlard, technical manager at CO2Sense, the Yorkshire region is ideally placed to benefit from growth in the biomass industry.

"I think biomass is going to be pretty important here," he said. "It's an area where this region has a bit of a lead. We do a lot of coal-firing here, which means we've already got a thriving biomass sector.

"I think biomass could play just as big a part as wind power over the coming years."