A pioneering renewable energy project that could heat thousands of Swindon homes by burning willow trees is under threat.

Sevenhampton farmer Rupert Burr needs to find a buyer for his energy crop by the end of the month or face losing a government grant of £960,000.

Mr Burr, who has already invested £250,000 of his own money in the project, was banking on Didcot power station buying his processed crop.

But he said that Swindon-based RWE npower, formerly RWE Innogy, which runs the power station, has pulled out of negotiations a charge the company denies.

Mr Burr, who runs his project at Roves Farm under the name Roves Energy, blamed bureaucracy for jeopardising the future of what could be the first woodfuel-for-electricity system in the UK.

It could potentially produce two megawatts of renewable electricity per hour enough to provide electricity for about 4,000 homes.

It could also produce sufficient heat to dry additional crops to be used in wood-fuelled heating systems. These crops would be capable of heating 10,000 homes.

Mr Burr said the project would help the UK government's stated aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address global warming.

Ministers have set a target for the UK to produce 15 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

As long ago as 1992 the Department for Trade and Industry called on farmers to grow crops such as willows to produce renewable energy.

Mr Burr said about £100 million of taxpayers money has been spent developing the principles of energy from energy crops yet not a single project has been established.

In a last ditch effort to find a market for his processed willow fuel, Mr Burr wrote to every Swindon councillor asking for their support in encouraging developers to consider wood-fuelled heating systems.

More than three weeks later he has heard back from only three of them, and Mr Burr has become increasingly frustrated by how difficult it appears to be to launch a type of project the government supposedly supports.

"I have spent £250,000 of my own money and a huge amount of time developing energy crops as an opportunity for UK farmers," he said. "Everyone tells me it is what they want, yet bureaucracy stands in the way at every turn.

"If Roves Energy cannot show that it is going forward by the end of the month we lose our Department for Trade and Industry grant of £960,000.

"Swindon has had a wonderful opportunity to be seen as the leading town in the country for commercial renewable energy," said Mr Burr.

Andy Tate