About £110 billion will need to be invested in low-carbon generation and infrastructure by 2020, according to government estimates. Most of this funding must be committed up front and it will take years before investments can be recovered from customers, a report on biomass being published today by Deloitte argues.

 

With government spending constrained and household energy bills at an all-time high, the private sector is expected to bear the brunt of this funding in the medium term. The consultancy estimates that converting existing power plants to run on biomass can provide attractive returns for investors and that it can be competitive with other renewable technologies.

 

Dean Cook, UK sector leader for renewable energy at Deloitte, said: “There are hurdles that need to be overcome, but biomass has the potential to help answer the UK’s energy challenges. With many of its power stations being forced to shut down, the question is whether the UK would be missing an opportunity if it did not give biomass more consideration.”