Woody biomass power stations are being used to meet renewable energy goals in Japan and South Korea despite their lack of financial viability and maintenance of the status quo for emissions, according to a new report from Global Energy Monitor.
Data in the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker show that Japan has 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of woody bioenergy capacity projected across 59 units by 2026 and South Korea has 1.46 GW projected across 32 units by the same year — an increase of 658% in the last ten years.
Japan and South Korea also have 16.7 GW of capacity across 55 units that co-fire bioenergy with coal being the primary fuel, according to data in the Global Coal Plant Tracker. This is equivalent to 17.4 per cent of the total operating capacity in those countries.
Through its Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) in South Korea and the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) program in Japan, dedicated woody biomass burning units receive renewable subsidies based on the false premise that they are carbon neutral. But supply chain emissions — including logging, transportation to a processing plant, processing into wood chips or pellets, and additional transportation to the power plant — remain a serious concern.
Those emissions are in addition to the carbon emissions from woody biomass itself, which can be 30% higher than coal burning emissions. Woody biomass must be burned in higher volumes than fossil fuels because of its lower energy density, and the emissions increase as the volume combusted grows.
The continued subsidies also crowd out funding for truly renewable sources of energy like wind and solar and keep coal plants online. With a carbon debt payback period estimated between 44 and 104 years, both Japan and South Korea are continuing to invest in an energy which is not carbon neutral when burning woody biomass.
While South Korea has a 2050 coal phaseout date and Japan has yet to commit to a date, utilizing biomass co-firing could serve to lengthen the tail of coal burning in the countries.
Sophia Bauer, Project Manager for the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker, said, “The bioenergy buildout is a massive distraction from funding for real solutions to drive a clean energy transition in Japan and South Korea. Not only does burning biomass not bring the intended emissions reductions, it is also a safety hazard for communities and workers, as the threat of fires at power plants is all too well known.”
