Peter Bottomley MP said: “The proposed technology is not proven.
“There must be no further subsidies for burning trees in our power stations beyond the current 2027 contracts. The Government should instead focus on increasing tree cover and backing wind, solar and nuclear energy.”
Schemes like Drax’s, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or Beccs, are highly controversial because green groups argue that cutting down forests to generate electricity ruins the environment.
Beccs is based on the idea that as trees grow they capture CO2 from the air.
Selaine Saxby MP said: “There are serious questions about whether burning wood pellets for energy is truly sustainable and whether the increase in consumers’ energy bills is justified.
“Until those questions can be satisfactorily answered, many conservatives will rightly ask whether agreeing to billions of pounds more in subsidies represents value for money.”
Philip Dunne MP added: “There are questions over the sustainability of imported wood pellets and increased competing demand for home-sourced timber and waste wood. So the Government should apply strict criteria to ensure sustainability of biomass wood imports for energy generation.”
A spokesman for Drax said: “Our investment in this scheme could deliver up to 10,000 high-skilled jobs across the UK at the peak of the project’s construction, as well as safeguarding up to 7,000 direct and supply chain jobs.”