Agency backs AD but warns of environmental challenges

A busy exhibition confirmed the interest in the marketplace which has been taken up by government and saw a way forward following a meeting hosted by the departments for climate change and the environment on Tuesday July 5 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The conference heard from David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, who spoke of the contribution to emission reductions that AD could bring and how the renewable heat incentive could help the sector and would help other projects as well.

Particular attention was paid to the issue of the grid with Mark Bugler, manager of energy and technology for British Gas New Energy, exploring the challenges of inputting gas into the grid. Steve Smith, a senior partner at Ofgem, commented on biogas too but claimed that it would not make sense to network the gas but instead it would be best used to generate electricity on site.

He conceded that “networks may not be engineered to connect AD plants up to the grid” but pointed to a