The Supply of Biomass for Bioenergy Systems

Developing BECCS technologies that may significantly contribute to the decarbonisation of the UK energy sector is based on the premise that the United Kingdom will be able to access/mobilise sufficient quantities of biomass resource to balance the demands of the future bioenergy sector. The use of these biomass resources should not impact the sustainability of other sectors, such as industries that directly compete for biomass resource, or the availability of land to meet demands for food. This chapter introduces different approaches used for analysing the availability of biomass resource and discusses why there may be (sometimes much) variation between the outputs of different biomass resource studies. The chapter draws upon current reports and published research to provide an assessment of the overall extent of different forms of biomass and the potential availability of these resources for the bioenergy sector. The interfaces between the supply of biomass for energy and the competing land and resource demands of industry are highlighted. Finally, the chapter draws on published research to provide an evaluation of whether there will be sufficient sustainable biomass for a future BECCS sector.