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The government's climate change minister Greg Barker has described biomass as the UK's "single most important" renewable energy resource on account of its versatility in producing heat, electricity and transport biofuels.
Addressing the Renewable Energy Association's annual bioenergy conference on 6 October, Mr Barker said that the biomass sector was expected to contribute around half of the UK's renewable energy targets by 2020.
He said: "We see a crucial role for bioenergy at all scales because of its versatility in producing heat, electricity and transport biofuels. Biomass is the UK's single most important renewable energy source. It also provides a controllable supply, irrespective of weather conditions.
"So unlike intermittent energy technologies such as wind power, it can provide both peak load and base load power."
Gaynor Hartnell, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, said: "Greg Barker clearly understands the importance of bioenergy. He expects its contribution to future energy needs to be massive. He also sees it operating across all scales, from applications in households and the community, right up to large scale power plant.
The Barton Renewable Energy Plant being proposed by Peel Energy would generate enough low carbon electricity to power around 37,000 homes and divert as much as 140,000 tonnes of recycled wood from landfill annually. It is also proposed that renewable heat would also be fed to businesses and homes by an underground pipe network.
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