Wood energy bill to be linked with new nuclear plant authorisation

Aim to triple use of wood as energy source

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The government is planning a substantial support package for renewable energy - primarily wind power and wood. The use of wood as a source of energy is to be increased substantially as a way to keep Finland at pace with its EU obligations for renewable energy.
      The “twig package” of subsidies for the use of wood as an energy source is taking on an important role, as the main government parties, the National coalition Party and the Centre, hold discussions behind the scenes on the number of new licences for nuclear power plants.
      Formally these are two separate matters, but their linkage is inevitable. The National Coalition, which wants to grant licences to all three applicants for new nuclear facilities, will probably need to make concessions in the direction of more wood energy in order to get the Centre to agree to more than one nuclear licence.
     
The goal of getting 38 per cent of Finland’s energy from renewable resources threatens to go beyond reach, as the forest industry cuts back on output. The forest industry is Finland’s most important producer of bio-energy, and as the industry reduces its output of pulp and paper, its energy production also declines.
      Consequently the government’s ministerial group on climate and energy policy declared last week that the use of wood as energy needs to be tripled from the present level.
     
Currently about five million cubic metres of stumps and other wood material left over from felling are used in the production of energy each year. In a climate and energy strategy drawn up a couple of years ago, the goal was set to raise this to 12 million cubic metres.
      The new goal set last week was an even more ambitious 15 cubic metres.
     
The wood processing industry is sharply divided on the issue of using wood as energy. The large forest companies UPM and Stora Enso fear that smaller trees will be increasingly used as fuel, and that the industry would have to pay more for its raw material.
      To iron out these differences Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre Party) has invited representatives of the forest and energy industries to a meeting today, Tuesday.
      The support models include energy subsidies to encourage forest owners to turn small trees and branches into wood chips for the energy industry instead of leaving the scraps to decay in the forest. There are also plans for output subsidies for energy utilities, which would be tied with the price of emission rights.
     
The ministry says that competitiveness of wood as fuel depends on the price of emission rights. The government hopes to use wood in furnaces that are capable of using a variety of fuels. However, this is difficult if fuels which cause a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions are cheaper to use than wood, which emits only the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the trees that it came from removed.
      An expert who has seen the proposal feels that the production model would seem to be “damned complicated”.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki’s energy choice: biofuel plant or nuclear power (1.6.2009)
  Helsinki Energy considers bio-fuel for Hanasaari power plant (29.2.2008)
  Renewable energy targets pose problems for cities (25.2.2008)
  New EU emissions trading period raises consumer price of electricity (3.1.2008)

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