Humber has 'huge renewable energy potential'

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The Humber has the potential to set the benchmark for renewable energy production across Europe, says Andrew Percy MP.

In the past 10 years the Humber, despite the resources it can boast, has not made the progress it should have done, and as other parts of the country have. We have lost private sector jobs in the past 10 years, at a time when the economy was growing, and we remain an economically disadvantaged part of the UK.

However, recently we have seen a hugely encouraging development in this part of the country – the emergence of the Humber as a leading hub for the development of renewable energy (RE). When I say leading, I do not just mean the UK. The Humber has the potential to set the benchmark for renewable energy production across Europe.

I am passionate about the Humber becoming a RE hub and, along with my colleague Martin Vickers MP, I have worked hard since I came to Westminster in 2010 to make this a reality. Just a couple of weeks ago I organised a Westminster Hall debate where minister for energy Charles Hendry reiterated his personal and the government's support for our project.

We already have well developed wave and tidal technologies – energy forms that the Humber is ideally equipped to manufacture. We also have the perfect mix of resources for the production of bioethanol, and this is a sector that I strongly believe we as a country must prioritise in developing.

The question, of course, is why bioethanol, and why the Humber? The Humber has a great deal going for it: deep sea ports, plenty of land for development, an excellent motorway infrastructure and a long history of petrochemical and manufacturing skills on which to build. The Humber region, indeed the whole of North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, has some of the most productive agricultural land in the country, so there is huge potential locally to benefit from bioethanol production.

This country in general has a heritage of petrochemical skills and a highly efficient agricultural base, so it makes sense to have a bioethanol base here in the UK. We also have mandated targets for biofuels set out in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), so whatever people's individual views about biofuels are, the reality is that if we do not produce them locally in the UK, and specifically in the Humber, they will be produced elsewhere, and the jobs will be elsewhere.

The loss of these jobs will not impact solely on the Humber, just as the development of the bioethanol industry will not solely benefit the region. The supply chain for this industry will benefit the whole of UK plc, and will create thousands of jobs across the country in manufacturing, transport, farming and construction. It's also worth bearing in mind that the development of a fully functional bioethanol industry wouldn't cost the taxpayer a penny.

As with wind – and, potentially, wave and tide, if we are not careful – the UK will continue to lag behind. In 2008, France had 15 operational plants, Germany had nine, yet to date the UK only has one large and one small plant. There is huge potential in the industry: as with wave and tidal technologies, the predictions for the industry are impressive. It could be worth as much as £3.25bn to the UK by 2020, and could employ some 14,500 people. There is huge potential, in the Humber in particular, for the reasons that I have outlined in respect of infrastructure.

Two plants are coming to the Humber: Vireol will be running an industrial-scale wheat-based production plant in Grimsby from 2013, which should produce about 44 million gallons of bioethanol a year. The effects of Vireol's production of bioethanol will be the equivalent of taking 60,000 cars off the road. Vivergo will produce twice the amount from a plant in Saltend.

It is one of the misunderstandings that bioethanol is responsible for rising food prices or diminishing this country's food security. The concern is one that many people raise, which is that we are taking land that could be used to produce food to feed our cars instead. It is based on the misconception that all biofuels are the same. They are not.

There is a significant difference between biodiesel and bioethanol, and even between different types of bioethanol. The process that will be used at the Vireol plant is based on wheat and will produce as a co-product a high-quality animal feed. The bioethanol produced via this process has a proven environmental benefit, producing significant carbon savings when compared to petrol. In addition, because of the animal feed produced during the process, it is forecast to have a positive impact on land use, displacing crops such are soy that are currently imported from places such as South America.

The global annual production of the 'big four' oil seeds that are used for biodiesel is about 120 million tonnes. To meet our 2020 target, approximately 24 million tonnes would have to be used for biodiesel. For bioethanol, annual production of the big three grains is around 1.7 billion tonnes, of which only 60 million are needed to produce bioethanol. Moreover, we as country have yet to reach anywhere near our potential capacity for crop yields. I am told that the UK could increase its production volumes of wheat up to about 20 million tonnes, and indeed we already export wheat for animal feed or bioethanol production overseas.

It is not wheat we lack in this country, but protein and oil (used predominantly as transport fuel) – and we currently import these things from overseas. The wheat-based process that will be coming to the Humber produces a high-quality animal feed co-product, as well as bioethanol, so it is a win-win situation. We can produce high-protein food and fuel, whilst reducing our reliance on imports from elsewhere.

As I said, there is a significant difference between different types of biofuels, and as with most things, there are good examples and bad. This is not a call for the indiscriminate promotion of biofuels, but for the support and development of those that can help the UK meets its carbon-reduction targets in a sustainable way. A crucial part of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation laid out in the RED is sustainability standards for biofuels that would mean only the very best biofuels would be put into production in the UK.

However, there is still no clear long-term plan for implementation of these standards. I have spoken to energy minister Charles Hendry about this, and what his department will do to continue to support this important sector, which has the potential to bring many jobs to our region. I have also asked him when, specifically, will the government renew the 2020 targets, which are for 10 per cent of our fuel production, so that the bioethanol industry can continue to secure investment.

While we still have much to do, I am encouraged by my Hon Friend Mr Hendry's assertion that:

"Bioethanol offers one of the few options in the short term for tackling greenhouse gas emissions and for meeting our renewable energy targets in the transport sector".

I am encouraged that he recognises, in his words, "the importance of bioethanol and the leadership that Britain ought to be looking to establish in this sector".

The development of the bioethanol industry is a vital concern to the Humber region, but it would be a mistake to think that area would be the only place to benefit. This is a fight the whole of the UK should be supporting.

Andrew Percy is member of parliament for Brigg and Goole.

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