In the UK, analysis by NRDC shows that real renewables like wind and solar are already alleviating the need to burn millions of metric tons of wood in UK power stations.
In the first six months of 2023 (January-June), the use of genuine renewables avoided the burning of 32 million tons of wood in bioenergy power stations — mainly Drax.
Wind, solar, and hydro generated 44TWh of electricity, according to the National Grid. To produce the same amount of electricity from bioenergy would have required 32 million tons of wood pellets. That’s 3.5 times the UK’s current annual use of wood pellets, which stands at around 9 million tons. This would have required at least 501 shipments across the Atlantic (from Canada and the U.S. Southeast, where the UK obtains most of its wood pellets) – the largest single shipment to Drax power station was 63,907 tons.
