Severn Wye’s Energy Innovation team Alex Wilcox Brooke and Colin Keyse were in France last week, part of a European network exploring the science, technology and practical applications of biomass and biochar. They’ve been working in this field for more than ten years, picking up the baton from former Severn Wye innovators Andy Bull and Rachel Smith.
As active partners in a series of European transnational projects, Alex and Colin continued to be invited back to the network because of the quality of their work and commitment to collaboration. But the UK’s departure from the EU looked like the beginning of the end.
Support from Agile Cymru
Happily, Agile Cymru came to the rescue – Welsh Government funding specifically designed to support organisations’ continued involvement in European networks. The team’s successful application to the fund has meant Colin and Alex can build on and further develop the collaborations they’ve been so heavily involved in over the past few projects.
European colleagues from seven countries pressed for the team to continue participation and information sharing and they have been invited to be observers for a three-year project called CASCADE. This research is investigating how the 37 million tonnes of biomass wasted every year in north-west Europe can be converted into carbon products – representing a potential saving of over 30 million tonnes of CO2.
Agile Cymru funding supported Alex and Colin to attend two transnational meetings, one in Luxembourg in 2023 and most recently the international Bio-Economy Exhibition in Nantes, France. The learning and experience from attending these conferences will feed into the team’s two live projects – Mersey Biochar in Warrington where construction is underway, and the Powys Multi-Output Pyrolysis Plant feasibility study. This latter project is exploring candidate sites and sustainable local sources of biomass for a second pyrolysis plant in mid Wales, which will produce biochar – which locks away carbon in solid form – as well as providing ultra-low-carbon heat for local use.
International presence gathers momentum
The scale and nature of the international presence at this year’s Expo felt different to previous events – last year most exhibitors were individual companies or organisations. But now so many more have grouped together to get support from their governments in national pavilions. France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Ireland – all were there promoting their indigenous biochar industries and championing carbon draw-down technologies and systems.
Severn Wye was proud to be part of the discovery and knowledge sharing with the support of the Agile Cymru programme. With all the innovation and development going on in Wales we hope Alex and Colin will be representing energy innovation for Wales and Severn Wye again in 2025.
