English biofuel companies up in arms over call in UK parliament for biofuels ban

In England, D1 Oils is among several Teeside biofuels companies up in arms over a UK parliamentary committee report calling for a ban on biofuels over food cost and environmental concerns.

D1 spokesmen said that the ban would serve to undermine companies in the ULK that are investing in sustainable, alternative crops such as jatropha that would cure the problems identified in the parliamentary report. Renewable energy accounts for 2 percent of total energy use in the UK, and the EU has proposed mandating a 15 percent level by 2020 with 10 percent to come from biofuels.

The Government recently revised its costs and carbon savings from the proposed implementation of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The cost has risen 87% to $760 per ton of carbon emission saved based on an estimated carbon savings of 700,000-800,000 tonnes. The RTFO imposes a 2.5 percent biofuel mandate in 2008, increasing to 5 percent in 2010.

Late last year, the government established a Renewable Fuels Agency to manage compliance with the RFTO, which takes effect in April 2008. The Obligation mandates that, by 2010, five per cent of all fuel sold in the UK must be from renewable sources.

The UK has been slow to build biofuel production capacity, primarily as a result of a shortage of feedstocks. Last month, the EU approved plans by BP Associated British Foods to construct a 111 Mgy ethanol plant in Hull, England, scheduled to be online in 2009 and will use wheat as a feedstock. Wheat-based ethanol came under scrutiny recently when the director of the Spanish Flour and Semolina Producers Association blamed biofuels for up to 50% price increases in bread prices as soon as next year.

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