Drax supply chain must be monitored for biomass power generation to be acceptable

Even ministers sounded embarrassed in February when they threw yet more subsidies at Drax, recipient of £6.5bn to date, to keep its wood-burning power plant open until 2031.

- Nils Pratley

Few people think the biomass industry can survive in the long term unless as-yet-untested carbon capture technology can be installed. But the bizarre business of importing wood pellets from the US and Canada for incineration in North Yorkshire was extended as the UK's power system, now more reliant on wind and solar, also needs firm "dispatchable" power that can be turned on and off in a hurry.

At least Drax would have a "much more limited role" in future, said the energy minister Michael Shanks, and 100% - not 70%, as in the past - of the "woody biomass" would have to come from sustainable sources. The obvious question: is a robust system in place for checking that every last wood pellet is sustainable?