The department today revealed exactly how much anaerobic digestion (AD) plant operators will receive under the Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) system, which aims to encourage small-scale renewable electricity generation from April 2010.
FiTs
Under the Feed-in Tariffs system, which is set to come into force in April 2010, AD installations which produce up to 500 kilowatts of electricity will receive between nine and 11.5 pence for every kilowatt hour they generate – in a bid to encourage investment in the technology.
However, plans for a separate Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for biomass have been dropped, with the technology instead set to benefit from a pilot 10 pence per kilowatt hour tariff for facilities producing up to five megawatts using combined heat and power, while larger schemes can use the existing Renewables Obligations Certificates (ROCs) system.
And, the tariff for anaerobic digestion is significantly less than those for other renewable technologies, with small-scale wind developments set to receive as much as 34.5 pence per kilowatt hour, and solar installations receiving as much as 41.3 pence.
FEED IN TARIFF RATES
| Technology | Pence per kilowatt hour |
| Anaerobic digestion (smaller than 500kW capacity) |
11.5 |
| Anaerobic digestion (larger than 500kW capacity) |
9 |
| MicroCHP pilot (larger than 2kW capacity) |
10 |
DECC hopes that the FiTs will help to ensure that small-scale renewables contribute at least 2% of the electricity the UK intends to source from renewables by 2020.
RHI
Meanwhile, under tariffs proposed in the Renewable Heat Incentive, which is expected to take effect in April 2011, facilities using biogas – the main output from AD – would receive 5.5 pence for every kilowatt hour of heat they generate.
The RHI, which out for consultation until April 26, also proposes tariffs for facilities burning solid biomass – including energy-from-waste facilities and those using waste wood as feedstock – to produce heat.
This ranges from nine pence per kilowatt hour of heat generated for small facilities to 1.6 pence for those above 500 kilowatts capacity.
PROPOSED RENEWABLE HEAT INCENTIVE TARIFFS
| Small installations | |
| Technology | Pence per kilowatt hour |
| Solid biomass (up to 45kW) |
9 |
| Biodiesel (up to 45kW) |
6.5 |
| Biogas – onsite combustion (up to 45kW) |
5.5 |
| Medium installations | |
| Technology | Pence per kilowatt hour |
| Solid biomass (45kW – 500kW) |
6.5 |
| Biogas – onsite combustion (45kW – 200kW) |
5.5 |
| Large installations | |
| Technology | Pence per kilowatt hour |
| Solid biomass (500kW and above) |
1.6 to 2.5 |
| Biomethane injection (all scales) |
4 |
And, a tariff is also outlined for injecting biomethane – which is produced from biogas – directly into the gas grid, with the consultation suggesting this be set at four pence per kilowatt hour.
The importance of the proposed RHI was outlined by energy minister Lord Hunt, who said in the consultation that it was “a ground-breaking initiative which will provide the necessary financial support to increase significantly the level of renewable heat generation”.
His sentiments were echoed by Gaynor Hartnell, policy director for the Renewable Energy Association, who told a launch event in London today that: “The UK may be languishing behind the rest of Europe on renewable heat, but the proposals launched today are an important world first.
“The industry is confident these proposals give the UK pretty much the best chance of generating over 10% of its heat from renewables by 2020,” she added.
Energy from waste
The consultation document specifically addresses how energy from waste facilities can claim the biomass RHI, proposing that – as with the ROCs system (see letsrecycle.com story) – the RHI can only be claimed against 50% of the total tonnage where it is “not feasible to separate the biomass content”.
To establish this, the document proposes that plant operators have to provide the regulator Ofgem with “sufficient evidence” that the fossil fuel content is unlikely to exceed 50% and, if they want to claim less than 50% fossil fuel content, they will need to submit “additional supporting evidence”.
Biomass tariff
With biomass not appearing in the final list of Feed-in Tariffs, Lord Hunt explained that other biomass facilities generating electricity could look to the Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) scheme for incentives.
“There are a range of technological difficulties involved with biomass, so what we have decided to do is to continue it under the ROCs scheme,” he said.
“We didn't have anything to go on for what a tariff should be. The pilot scheme will then give us a much clearer idea of what it should be.”
The pilot tariff will be made available to 40,000 microCHP installations, and will be reviewed when 16,000 units have been installed.
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