Companies developing large-scale waste-to-energy projects producing renewable electricity will find out as early as mid-July 2011 what level of support they will receive from 2013 under the Renewable Obligations, the government has announced today (December 8).
Mr Hendry said that department of energy and climate change (DECC) had undertaken the move to help tackle current “uncertainty” facing developers.
Under the Renewables Obligation Order, electricity suppliers are required to purchase a growing level of electricity that they sell to consumers from renewable sources. This was 10.4% in 2010, rising to 15.4% in 2015.
Suppliers meet this obligation by purchasing renewable electricity from an accredited generator, along with a Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) for each MWh of energy purchased.
In April 2009, the government rebanded the ROC levels for technologies in order to foster development of new and alternative projects. For example, producers can claim two ROCs for electricity generated by an anaerobic digestion facility compared to one ROC for an energy-from-waste combined heat and power facility.
And, today's announcement sets out the timetable for the 2010-13 Renewables Obligation banding review.
Announcing the review, Mr Hendry said: “We are determined to increase significantly the amount of renewables in our energy mix and we want to remove barriers to this goal. The previous timetable for reviewing support for large-scale renewable electricity developments created some uncertainty for investors, so we've decided to bring it forward.”
“Taking this action will help us realise our full potential for growth in renewable electricity. We think we've found the right balance between speeding up the process and making sure our decisions are based on solid analysis”.
DECC now intends to consult on new banding proposals in summer 2011 and confirm the new bands by Autumn 2011. The new bands will take effect on April 1 2013 as originally planned, subject to State Aids and Parliamentary approval.
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