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07/02/2011 14:32:29

Feed-in Tariff review for on-farm anaerobic digest



An emergency review of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) for farm-based Anaerobic Digestion (AD) was announced by the Government.

Campaigners have pushed for changes to payments since the tariff was first announced in February 2010, leaving many renewable energy projects short of finance, and called on Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change Greg Barker to review the FIT.

CLA President William Worsley said: "I am delighted Greg Barker has listened to the arguments that the CLA and our colleagues from across the renewables industry have brought before him. Farm-based AD will help agriculture drive down its carbon emissions, deliver sustainable energy and other wider benefits to the rural economy.

"Our work with the Government on the AD action plan will support increased payments by reducing red tape. We will be working further with the Department of Energy and Climate Change to determine the right level of FIT payments to ensure that on-farm AD flourishes."

Mr Worsley also responded to the review of large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaics (PV), announced today. "Few solar PV projects have yet to come forward since Mr Barker expressed his concern on the potential costs for supporting this technology. We will respond to the consultation, aiming to ensure that existing projects are not harmed, and that roof-mounted solar retains support at all scales."

The CLA, through its support of the UK involvement in the International Energy Agency Task 37 on energy from biogas, is well placed to help the Government to find the right solutions to making farm AD a success for agriculture and the countryside.


Strutt & Parker welcomed the government’s decision to undertake a comprehensive review of the AD Feed in Tariff.

The current level of Feed In Tariff for Anaerobic Digestion is too low to make AD on farm viable at a scale that would be practical to integrate into current operations. Therefore the review should ensure that systems of between 100kW and 400kW using slurries, crops and vegetable waste are viable.

Farmers are well suited to operating AD, they have suitable locations, are used to working with machinery and the materials that go into and come out of AD plants. There are many AD plants on farm in Europe and hopefully the review will encourage more to be built in the UK as well.




User Comments


It will be interested to see how this issue is addressed in the context of the Anaerobic Digestion Market Study announced last week by the OFT.
Elaine Coles
www.waterbriefing.org

Posted By Anonymous At 07/02/2011 15:13:27

Interesting that the same DECC press release aslo announced a review of feed in tariffs with a view to ending solar farms. Also it said details of Renewable Heating support would be announced in March.

Posted By Anonymous At 07/02/2011 22:51:28

The Bio-gas produced by AD can and possibly should be used as a fuel for vehicles and not simply to produce electricity.

Posted By Anonymous At 08/02/2011 07:27:40

It seems very clear to me that the government has forgotten why it introduced the feed-in tariff.

Just in case anyone else needs reminding, the purpose of the FIT is to help meet the 2020 emission reduction targets by increasing the amount of renewable energy in the energy mix. With this fact now remembered, let's think again:

The FIT subsidy is 41.3p/kWh for domestic installations v.s. 29.3p/kWh for larger installations – therefore for every unit of energy produced, domestic PV costs almost 30% more than commercial-scale PV. As the FIT budget is capped, incentivising smaller more expensive PV would result in up to 30% less PV installed than if the focus was commercial scale PV. This is not an efficient way to meet our 2020 targets!

Large-scale solar farms are the lowest cost option! Get a grip government!

Posted By Anonymous At 08/02/2011 14:56:23

Anyone who believes the FiT review is good news for anything but the smallest AD plants is mistaken. Which external investor in their right mind would now invest equity into a power generation plant supported by the FiT when it can be pulled at any moment by the Govt. Would you really risk your own money in such an environment?
This Govt. have acted wrecklessly in this regard. the sooner they are out, the better.

Posted By Anonymous At 15/02/2011 01:35:50

The FIT review is heaven sent. Why give all the funding to a few greedy companies and cover green fields in solar panels? These fields will be surrounded by 6 foot fences with security cameras, every day there is news of food security issues, it would be crazy to cover land when we can cover rooftops and industrial estates.
Save the fields for real farming.

Posted By Anonymous At 16/02/2011 13:01:09


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