Back to the Future: "UK’s Renewable Energy Targets Drive Increases in U.S. Wood Pellet Exports"

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Today In Energy:

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on U.S. International Trade Commission 

In 2014, almost three-quarters of all U.S. wood pellet exports were delivered to the United Kingdom (UK), mainly for the purpose of generating electricity. Overall, U.S. wood pellet exports increased by nearly 40% between 2013 and 2014, from 3.2 million short tons in to 4.4 million short tons, as the United States continues to be the largest wood pellet exporter in the world.

Canada, formerly the global leader in wood pellet exports, fell behind U.S. exports in 2012. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. wood pellet exports accounted for more than $500 million of trade in 2014. Wood pellets can be used for heating homes and businesses and as fuel for small-scale industrial boilers, but in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands, wood pellets are used predominantly for utility-scale electricity generation.

The main driver for growing wood pellet consumption in Europe is the European Commission's 2020 climate and energy plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the contribution of renewables to total energy consumption in the European Union. Individual member states are assigned national renewable energy targets. The United Kingdom in particular is relying on the use of wood pellets in cofiring or dedicated biomass power plants as part of its compliance plan. Cofiring is the simultaneous combustion of two different fuels, while dedicated biomass plants run completely on biomass.

The United Kingdom's plan states that 15% of energy demand must be met by renewable sources by 2020. A renewables obligation credit (ROC) program has caused plant operators of large coal-fired power plants to retrofit existing units to either cofire with wood pellets or convert to dedicated biomass.

Data from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change indicate that electricity generation from plant-based biomass (which includes wood pellets) increased 47% from 8,933 gigawatthours (GWh) in 2013 to 13,138 GWh in 2014, driven by the continuing conversion of the Drax power plant in north-central England from coal to biomass. In 2014, the Drax plant's wood pellet supply alone accounted for more than 80% of all of the United Kingdom's wood pellet imports from the United States, and almost 60% of all U.S. wood pellet exports to all countries. While the United States is the largest supplier of pellets to the UK, it is not the UK's sole supplier; in 2014, imports of U.S. pellets only met 58% of Drax's demand. Canada provided another 22% of the wood pellet supply. Only 2.8% of Drax's wood pellet supply was domestically produced....MORE

We've looked at the phenomena a few times:

Aug. 2014
"What's Replacing Coal In Europe? Imported Wood"

May 2013
Bonfire of the Subsidies: Europe Returns to Early Stone Age Fuel as Putin Mocks
Mocking Europe's Energy Policy: "Putin invites Europeans to Siberia for firewood"
 
Jan. 2010
Wood gas vehicles: firewood in the fuel tank