EU Non-Food Biofuels Target Needs New Investment -Shell Unit
(Reuters) EU will need millions of tonnes of non-food biofuels to meet targets; Investment incentives currently not enough
Large new investment incentives will be needed to promote the development of alternative biofuels after the European Union’s move to curb the use of fuel derived from food crops, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Tuesday.
The executive European Commission announced a major shift in biofuel policy on Sept. 17, saying it plans to limit crop-based biofuels to 5 percent of transport fuel. Campaigners had argued that existing rules were taking food out of people’s mouths.
In a biofuels study presented on Tuesday, Deutsche Shell said companies would need help with the costs of developing and producing new second-generation biofuels to meet that goal.
…The EU’s new proposals, however, envisage the remaining 5 percent of biofuel output to reach the 2020 target will come from biofuels derived from waste products, grasses, the inedible parts of plants or a range of other non-food feedstocks including algae.
…”We see that such large scale industrial plants need three to four years lead time including planning, investment and planning permission,” Adolf said. “I would not expect the major flow of new (second generation) plants to come on stream until after 2020.” READ MORE
