UKFPA executive director David Sulman said a proposed banding system to support development of renewable fuels had the potential to provide further encouragement for the emerging wood fuel sector, as long as the banded subsidy support was set at appropriate levels to ensure help is given to those wood fuel types and streams which needed it most.
But he said more work was required in the details and a level playing field was still a “long way away”.
The Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF) met with DTI officals before Christmas to highlight the threat faced by UK panel manufacturers from the government’s promotion of renewable energy. The panel sector is concerned that power stations aided by government subsidies under the Renewables Obligation could outbid it for wood raw material.
UKFPA and WPIF provided constructive input to the consultation process on the reform of the Renewables Obligation and now await a decision by the government. Changes to the legislation come into force in 2009.
“We have been working hard to ensure that new government policy does not result in the displacement of wood fibre from established wood-using businesses,” said UKFPA president Dr David Wood. “What we want to see are measures which will aid the development of new markets for wood fibre and avoid displacement of existing wood supply flows.”
