MINISTER ANNOUNCES WOOD FUEL TASK FORCE

Summary of Report

Environment Minister, Michael Russell, announced today that he has asked Forestry Commission Scotland to convene an industry-wide \'task force\' to consider how to increase the supply of wood for renewable energy production.

The new task force will consider ways of bringing forward supplies from currently under-utilised sources such as forest residues, short rotation coppice and under-managed woodlands. It will also consider the impact of increased demand for wood fuel on the future balance between supply and demand within the wood processing sector.

The task force will be led by Forestry Commission Scotland and will include representatives from the renewable energy, wood processing and land management sectors.

The announcement was made during a visit to E.ON\'s £90 million biomass plant in Lockerbie, the largest of its kind in the UK. Currently, E.ON expects to begin testing the plant after the summer and commission the station by the turn of the year. Overall, the new biomass station could provide over 300 jobs in the forestry and farming sector.

Mr Russell said:

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August 6, 2007