Co-firing is the combustion of two different types of materials at the same time, and is currently being encouraged by the Government to help meet the target of a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.

This means that existing power stations can be used to burn new types of fuel that may be cheaper and more environmentally friendly, alongside traditional fuels such as coal. New fuels that may be co-fired are biomass, landfill gas or natural gas. As a result of the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive 2001/80/EC, due to come into force in 2008, large-scale power stations will be also able to convert to 100% burning of biomass.

One of the principle aims of the Government in including biomass co-firing within the Renewables Obligation was to encourage the development of energy crops.

However, the energy crop market is not being stimulated enough in order to encourage co-firers away from using fuel that is easiest to source – currently, this is wood chips, sawdust, forest roundwood and post-consumer recycled wood -materials that are the lifeblood of other industries.

Co-firing has a major impact on the wood panel industry, since, if extended without restriction, it may create a shortage of UK-sourced wood fibre and inadvertently cause the demise of an environmentally beneficial UK industry.

Unless appropriate constraints on the type of biomass are placed on co-firers, and the energy crop market stimulated, significant volumes of the wood types that are used by the wood panel industry in manufacture will be diverted in large volumes to power stations. The material that could be re-used effectively in wood panel manufacture is currently simply being burned as fuel.