The UK's oil minister is also responsible for other energy sources and is rather proud that he has just inaugurated the world's largest straw-fired power station, a 36 Mw, $100 million dollar project in rural eastern England (OGJ, Oct. 22, 2001, p. 20).
The area is also home to a large wind-driven power plant and a 38 Mw plant that produces electricity from 700,000 tons/year of chicken litter.
The same county is home to Britain's most productive nuclear power station; on the nearby coast is one of the biggest North Sea gas terminals at Bacton, and the main national gas grid runs through the area.
That is all very well for local consumers, you may think. It would be, except that there are few local gas transmission lines in the area, and the vast majority of households have no access to gas mains.
Of course, the oil and gas industry accepts competition, and companies such as BP PLC and Royal Dutch/Shell Group are major investors in alternative energy sources.
Renewables targeted
Oil Minister Brian Wilson said the UK government expects to create a £1 billion market for renewable energy by 2010.
The main driver for this will be the shortly-to-be-introduced renewables obligation, which will put a requirement on electricity suppliers to supply 10% of their electricity from renewable sources.
The straw-fired power station can provide heat and light for 80,000 homes.
The chicken litter-fired station heats and lights a similar number of households. The remainder of the homes in the region are served by a new generation of gas-fired power stations. The area, therefore, seems to have a well-balanced energy economy.
However, there may come time when natural gas runs out, say the environmental pressure groups, and we will need more straw and chicken litter power.
Coming straw shortage
That may be true, but what they haven't noticed is that in many rural areas in England there is a shortage of straw, and it is a commodity with a rising price.
Straw has become too expensive to be used as bedding for cattle, and, ironically, it is the oil industry that is coming to the rescue in many rural areas by providing the raw material for new bedding.
For while environmentalists are congratulating themselves on producing power from straw, farmers are spending $100 a time on special polyurethane foam mattresses for their cattle, made from products derived from North Sea gas at the Mossmoran petrochemical plant in Scotland.
The cows prefer their new beds and spend more time than in the past lying down chewing the cud. Milk yields are up, and conditions on the farms have become cleaner.
What this shows in a convoluted way is that the oil and gas industry still remains the most important source of energy and other valuable products.
The cows are happy with that, even if some environmentalists disagree.
