The biomass section
of the Drax power station
in England has a capacity
of 2.6GW.
It produces about 4% of total
UK electricity production
( 15% of all UK renewables output ).
Drax burns 4 million tons
of wood pellets each year.
A Sitka spruce plantation
yields about
150 tons per acre
after 40 years of growth.
So that 4 million tons
of wood pellets is
equivalent to
40 square miles
of Sitka spruce
plantation burned
each year.
So, to make Drax
"carbon neutral",
it would have to be
supported by a
1,600 square mile
of spruce plantation,
cutting and replanting
40 square miles
of the plantation,
each year.
That's not
going to happen !
Drax will not be
"carbon neutral".
In the short term,
burning biomass
tends to return CO2
previously absorbed
by the biomass
from the atmosphere,
back into the atmosphere,
by burning the wood.
That's not CO2-free
"green" energy.