Meeting the Gov's ambitious biomass & tree planting targets

Added on 13 October 2022

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Meeting the Gov's ambitious biomass & tree planting targets

The University of Surrey is collaborating with aeroponic specialists, LettUs Grow, to develop a greenhouse aeroponic system for willow tree propagation. The Ł4 million project is being funded by @Departmentbeis through their Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme which is a Ł36 million programme and part of their larger Ł1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. It aims to sustainably meet the Government's ambitious biomass and tree planting targets in the UK's Net Zero Strategy. Biomass is plant matter used as fuel to produce heat or electricity.

The Net Zero Strategy aims to increase the proportion of biomass to 7.3% of energy supply, outstripping nuclear power and making it the largest share of primary energy consumption from low carbon sources. This target will be almost impossible to reach at current tree reproduction rates without importing internationally. Already around a third of the biomass used for energy was imported, 72% of which was in the form of wood pellets.

The team at the University of Surrey has developed and demonstrated a proof of concept solution for fast and sustainable domestic production using aeroponic methods. The university is partnering with aeroponic specialist, LettUs Grow, to provide the technology and help scale greenhouse propagation in-line with targets.