Farms can and should contribute to UK’s renewable gas potential

A report published by National Grid on Monday backs NFU evidence supplied to Government on the substantial potential of renewable gas supply in Britain.

However the immediate opportunities for farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plants will be mostly for local combined heat and power (CHP), where the NFU has called for 1000 such plants to be operational by 2020.

The NFU’s own estimates suggest that farm-based AD plants, together with at least 100 larger waste-linked AD facilities, could account for around 800 MW of electrical generating capacity, contributing both heat and electricity equivalent to up to five per cent of the UK’s renewable energy target over the next 11 years.

NFU President Peter Kendall said: "Removing the institutional barriers to the uptake of AD in rural Britain is proving hard enough. Upgrading biogas for pipeline injection and distribution may be a bridge too far for agricultural producers, at least until this emerging industry is more established in the UK.

"We are not convinced that pipeline delivery of biomethane should be a replacement for district heating, and suggest instead that the full range of renewable energy options should be regarded as complementing one another.

"However, the NFU is pleased that a large utility company such as National Grid has highlighted the untapped potential of biogas as well as thermal gasification technology. In the future, demand for gasifying perennial energy crops such as miscanthus and willow, which farmers are already growing for heat and power generation, may provide further opportunities for our members to diversify into clean energy services."