Invitation to Tender for Assessment of the risks associated with certain biomass fuel sourcing scenarios

Tender description

Research and development services and related consultancy services. Research and experimental development services. Research services. To procure a contractor to undertake a research project to assess the likely occurrence of selected biomass sourcing scenarios from North America identified in the recent DECC report “Lifecycle Impacts of Biomass Electricity in 2020 ’. The report showed that where bioenergy is sourced responsibly it produces lower carbon emissions than fossil fuels. However, the report also demonstrated that in some specific scenarios, biomass feedstock imported from North America and combusted in the UK could be more greenhouse gas (GHG) intensive than coal and natural gas. The 13 scenarios chosen for assessment in this follow up research project are those associated with the highest potential net greenhouse gas emissions occurring as a result of increased demand from the UK biomass electricity sector.Factors that will affect the likelihood of the relevant scenarios are expected to include: (i)the price of the feedstock assumed to be used now and in future relative to what UK generators currently pay and expect to pay in future; (ii)forestry management practices and (iii)standards and regulations in place in North America.The research project will involve determining whether the pellet types assumed to be used by UK generators in the selected scenarios would be affordable to UK generators now and out to 2030. To do this, the contractor should consider how supply and demand for the raw material used to produce the pellets will change out to 2030 and how supply and demand for the pellets will change out to 2030. The contractor should also consider whether there are factors other than price, such as forestry management practices, or forestry regulations that will influence the likelihood of the selected scenarios.The research will need to consider interactions between scenarios e.g. whether increased or reduced likelihood of one scenario will reduce or increase the likelihood of others. It should also identify any other likely or high impact (i.e. associated GHG emissions higher than for fossil fuels) identified throughout the course of the projectThe methodology developed by the contractor to determine and rate the likelihood of the scenarios occurring should be designed to allow DECC to incorporate other likely or high impact identified during the course of the project, or in future, into the analysis Further details of the research requirements and specific questions to be addressed are set out in the Invitation to Tender