Introduction
- Introduction
- Forests
- Harvest
- Transport
- Suppliers
ForestScope
Sustainable forest biomass, in the form of compressed wood pellets, plays a vital role in our departure from coal, enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future.
As a responsible, forward-thinking business it is essential that we source from certified and sustainable, suppliers and take actions to combat the climate change crisis.
Where do our wood pellets come from? How do they get to Yorkshire? And what role do they play in ensuring more productive, healthy forests and a decarbonised economy?
We source from forests in the US South where more carbon is absorbed than removed.
Although the area of many of our source forests has remained around the same size for years, active management of these resources increases growth and carbon storage.
Thinning operations increase the growth of the biggest and best trees, ensuring more carbon is stored in longer term, solid wood products such as those used in furniture and construction.
Opening the forest floor and clearing debris reduces the risk of fire and increases the growth of ground flora.
Responsible, active management also boosts carbon stock as the stands of younger, faster growing trees that are re-established after felling absorb even more carbon dioxide than stands of older, over-mature trees.
With these practices in use, the volume of trees in our US source forests, which we refer to as growing stock, has significantly increased since the 1950s.
Annual forest growth in the US South increased from 193 million cubic metres in 1953 to 408 million cubic metres in 2015. During that same 62-year period, inventory more than doubled from 4 billion cubic metres in 1953 to 8.4 billion in 2015.
There is now more surplus growth in the forests of the US South than ever before in modern times.
The more sustainable wood we use, the more forests can be encouraged to grow. Increased demand for wood in the US South has been statistically correlated with increased annual tree growth and more wood volume available in the forest.
But this increased growth has also created excess supply. Over the last 25 years, the US South has not only increased its total wood supply – the surplus annual growth (compared to removals) each year has quadrupled.
Surplus forest growth in US South
45 million cubic metres
162 million cubic metres
297 million cubic metres
408 million cubic metres
Sustainable forest biomass complements the land owner’s ability to make a living from other wood industries.
Drax does not take high quality wood from other industries. Sustainable biomass is largely made up of low grade wood and low value residues produced as a bi-product of the production and processing of higher value solid wood products (e.g. saw-timber for construction and furniture). These feedstocks can be used for renewable, low carbon energy.
The primary proportions of a wood harvest are broken into four distinct categories:
Proportional use of wood harvest in the USA, 2016
Sawlogs and veneer
166 million cubic metres
Pulpwood
177 million cubic metres
Wood fuel
45.45 million cubic metres
Other industrial roundwood
13.4 million cubic metresLow grade wood and residues used for pellets:
13.43 million cubic metres
3.34% of the total harvest
9.89 million cubic metres of that is exported, or
2.46% of the total harvest
8.2 million cubic metres of that is used by Drax, or just
2% of the total harvest
Biomass is vital to the UK’s committment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. In 2018 the sustainable US wood pellets used at Drax Power Station generated a large amount of the UK's renewable electricity.
Total renewable electricity, UK
Biomass is vital to the UK’s committment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. In 2018 the sustainable US wood pellets used at Drax Power Station generated a large amount of the UK's renewable electricity.
7.4%
of the UK's renewable power was produced by US wood pellets at Drax
4.6%
By wood pellets at Drax from Canada, Europe and Brazil
88%
By other renewable power generators - wind, solar, biomass and hydro
To make the process as efficient as possible, we've set up our own processing plants. In 2018, they supplied 20% of the wood pellets used at Drax Power Station, up from 12% in 2017.
We are focused on self-supplying 80% of Drax Power Station's sustainable biomass needs by 2027.
By operating a profitable, safe and sustainable business close to the well-managed forests that we rely on, we're able to control a growing part of our supply chain in a cost-efficient way.
Each harvest gets delivered to one of our bespoke processing plants before going through a process called pelletisation – turning harvested material into biomass fuel.
Morehouse BioEnergy
Amite BioEnergy
LaSalle BioEnergy
Baton Rouge Transit
Almost one third of the earth’s land mass is covered by forests. That’s an area of around 4 billion hectares, or roughly four times the size of the US.
In addition to being a prominent feature across the global landscape, forests and trees also play a significant role in how we live. They make the air cleaner in cities and absorb carbon from the atmosphere. They provide bio-diversity and habits for wildlife. They also provide essential forest products such as paper, building materials and wood pellets for energy.
Forests and wood fuel are more powerful than you might think:
- They’re a major source of renewable energy
- They can revitalise economies
- They can help mitigate climate change
Thanks for taking the time to visit Drax ForestScope. We hope to improve this website to include data from a wider variety of our suppliers, from multiple countries.