Drax denies biomass claims and criticisms over import of wood pellets – Yorkshire Post Letters

DRAX’S sustainable biomass pellets are made from the residues left over from other industries which would often be burned on site or left to rot if we didn’t use them (The Yorkshire Post, December 18 and 23).

Just under half comes from sawdust and wood chips – 
by-products created when wood is turned into planks used in construction or furniture making. The rest comes from forestry residuals such as treetops, limbs, damaged, diseased or misshapen wood not suitable for other uses.

The world’s leading climate scientists at the United Nations IPCC say generating renewable electricity from sustainable biomass does not contribute to global warming, because it does not release additional, new CO2 into the atmosphere – unlike coal. Here in Yorkshire, Drax generates 12 per cent of the country’s renewable electricity, enough to keep the lights on for four million UK homes – whilst supporting 6,600 jobs throughout our supply chains across the North. Drax Power Station’s transformation is almost complete – we will close our last two coal generating units next year, as we focus on developing bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

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