Members of the Eleventh Delegated Legislation Committee agreed the new subsidies for the next four years (April 1, 2013-March 31, 2017), including for biomass, but pressed the energy minister John Hayes about the impact of large power stations using more wood.
"I share the concern that we take account of the provision on domestically supplied wood and the price of wood, particularly for the wood panel industry," said Mr Hayes.
He said he had met the industry and asked his officials to look into the issue more closely and share data with industry representatives.
"That, of course, makes a case for imported wood," added Mr Hayes."There are sustainability issues but there are benefits too. We should not assume that imported wood is necessarily more expensive. Nor should we assume that imported wood cannot stand up to proper environmental tests."
He said the first meeting of an industry working group would be held before the end of March to discuss issues.
Mr Hayes assured committee members that the government’s data would be brought into line with data available from the wood panel industry.
"There seemed to be a mismatch between its [wood panel industry] perception of the effect on the price of wood and the prevailing perception and measurement of that effect. I am determined that we should combine our understanding to share an appropriate way forward."
