About PBE About PBE Bio Energy
PBE Bioenergy is a leader in Wales in providing solutions for emerging renewable energy markets. This could be biomass fuel supply contracts for industrial power generation, to domestic wood pellet supply or a complete turnkey bio-energy solution for public & commercial heating schemes. We can offer the entire Bioenergy concept from 'fuel to flame' or specific aspects of the solution depending on your requirements.
History
PBE Bioenergy was established in 2004 as a producer co-operative to grow, market and supply biofuels and bioenergy solutions to South & West Wales’s businesses and residents. The motivation for this was simple and dictated by several fundamental changes within agriculture and the economy as a whole. That is; the systematic undermining of farming over the last 20 years, the inevitable decline of an oil based economy and finally a growing commitment to carry Wales and the UK into a more sustainable economy.
As a co-operative our ethos is to enable farmers and suppliers to become price makers not price takers, whilst offering a long term stable pricing structure that will benefit both suppliers and end users alike. Agriculture is Wales’ principal rural land use with approximately 81% of Wales’ 2 million hectares of land being designated as agricultural holdings. However, agriculture across the UK has been suffering a major recession. Government figures show that the average UK farmer earned just £11,100 for the last financial year, a figure below the national minimum wage. Farmers get a decreasing return on their sales, with a recent NFU survey showing that UK farmers only get around 25% of the High Street check out price for food.
Despite this the Government and Assembly are both encouraging the rural sector to diversify. There is already a strong policy background to this in terms of rural diversification and common agricultural reform, climate change abatement, energy policy and security. Furthermore the UK has signed up to daunting renewable energy deployment targets; 10% electricity from renewables by 2010 rising to 20% by 2020, with only three percent achieved to date. To achieve this, national, regional and sub-regional targets have been set for a number of energy sectors, including bioenergy. The DTI sees biomass energy systems, including heat, electricity and combined heat and power as pivotal to the achievement of the renewable targets.
In Wales, the Assembly has set a target of a 10% increase in clean energy generation by 2010 and is committed to making Wales a showcase for clean energy production. Biomass, that is wood and dedicated energy crops such as Miscanthus and Willow, are key emerging technologies and it is predicted that by 2010 biomass will contribute 26% of the total renewable energy in Wales.
The final catalyst in founding PBE was the Bluestone project, a multi million pound leisure facility adjacent to Oakwood theme park. The developers were keen to investigate the viability of using energy crops to provide 100% of the heat demand for the entire site. We are happy to say that Bluestone will be completed in spring 2008 and will be heated entirely by Miscanthus energy crops grown locally. Since 2004 dramatic increases in fuel prices, changes in the world climate, new policy incentives and an increased awareness of bioenergy have meant that interest in PBE Bioenergy from growers and end users alike has increased dramatically. We are confident that we will be one of the largest biomass producer groups in the UK in the next few years, guaranteeing a viable income for the producer and affordable clean heat and power for the end user.
Biofuel & biomass-What is it?
Biofuel and biomass can be simply defined thus :- both are derived from plant or animal matter. Biofuel is used for motion i.e. transport etc. and biomass provides heat and/or power. PBE Bioenergy is, for the time being, concentrating on the production, supply and marketing of biomass as a fuel for heat and power. Biomass is an extremely versatile material and can be used to produce heat (for space and water heating), electricity and CHP (a combination of heat and power). Remember that until 1885 biomass was the primary source of energy for cooking, warmth, light, trains etc. and even now provides 15% of the worlds energy needs.
Biomass is grown from several plants but the most common in the UK are miscanthus and willow. However, biomass may also include bio-degradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel e.g. chicken litter or straw. Although biomass will release CO2 when burnt it only contributes the amount of CO2 that it absorbed whilst living, it is therefore said to be a carbon neutral fuel. However transport and processing may, if not considered properly, negate the carbon neutral nature of the fuel.
Biomass is seen by governments as playing a key role in the UK’s reduction in greenhouse gases. The combustion technologies for using biomass as a fuel are well established and biomass heat and chp systems are already becoming increasingly prevalent in many applications from schools, offices, homes and district heating systems for swimming pools and larger complexes such as Bluestone.
Why do we need Bioenergy?
The history of global energy supply has 2 distinct eras, the era before fossil fuels began, up to the beginning of the industrial revolution. The predominant energy sources were wood for heat and cooking, wood charcoal, wind and water power for industry, and food crops to fuel both animals and people. The fossil fuel era really began around 1700 in early industrial Britain and in 150 years coal had become the dominant power and transport fuel. The world’s first oil well in 1859 signalled the beginning of the second wave of fossil fuel dominance. Most recently gas has become the favoured fuel for energy from domestic cooking to industrial CHP to electricity generation, the third fossil fuel wave.
However, given the current climate crisis that we are facing, non polluting sources of energy are being increasingly used and developed the world over in order to tackle the problems of climate change. Biomass is probably the most proven of all the renewable sources of energy and is the only one that can produce high grade heat.
Europe’s energy landscape is changing fast. Today, half of the continent’s energy requirements are met by imports – a figure set to rise to almost 70 per cent in a couple of decades. Mature fossil fuels reserves, in Europe, just as in the US, are being exhausted. biomass and biofuels are recognised by most in Europe as having the greatest potential to reduce our fuel dependence and our emissions. Many authorities and businesses are now finding that biomass boilers offer a far greater degree of fuel economy and fuel supply stability than traditional oil or gas fired boilers. We anticipate that, in Wales and the UK, biomass heat will begin to replace oil and gas boilers in the next 10-15 years. This is not just a wistful imperative to act now but simple common sense that is being increasingly acted upon.
New Agronomy
To some it may seem strange to grow crops for energy and not food. However, the production of crops to help power Wales’s industry and homes is just as fundamental and essential. Biomass crops offer an extremely competitive price for energy and heat within approximately 50 miles of their point of use, beyond this distance the transport costs make the crops less economic. The real advantage here for the farmer is that the whole supply chain and income is kept local.
