UK Biomass Availability Modelling: Scoping Report

Welfle, A.; Holland, R.A.; Donnison, I.; Thornley, P.

Sustainably sourced biomass, such as from dedicated bioenergy crops, forestry and organic wastes, can provide feedstocks for a number of applications including renewable heat and power, transport fuels and materials and chemicals for the bioeconomy. Moreover, bioenergy when combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is one of the technologies proposed by the Committee on Climate Change for greenhouse gas removal, and therefore to help the UK become net zero by 2050. To meet policy requirements, models of biomass resource need to be able to address a number of questions: Firstly, what is the sustainable supply of the biomass resource that is currently available and that may be available in the future; secondly, what is the level of competition between sectors/uses for this finite resource; and thirdly, how does supply and demand of the resource change through time and what are the factors that influence this. This Scoping Study focused on the current state of knowledge around UK biomass resource availability for the bioenergy sector to address these questions.