REA NEWS REQ
POLICY CHANGES Uncertainty for green gas and solar developers
Two of the major growth sectors in renewables this year have been thrown into a state of uncertainty by proposed changes in Government policy. The large scale solar sector is facing the removal of support for new projects under the Renewables Obligation from April 2015 due to faster than two years before the scheme
closes to other technologies and, with less than nine months between the announcement and the implementation date, has put committed investments at risk. The REA and STA are pushing back strongly against these proposals, urging Government to for-money and overwhelming public approval rating (85% at the last count).
CERTIFICATION SCHEMES
REAL leads the way in organics
Concerns over speedy
deployment have also led to Government adjusting support levels for green gas projects under the Renewable Heat Incentive. The range of scenarios outlined in this consultation sent the industry into red alert, as they could have made a lot of future projects and projects currently in development completely uneconomical.
The REA and ADBA wrote
to Energy Minister Greg Barker, whose reply allayed industry fears, conceding that the economic drivers of such projects “are not at the levels assumed in the consultation document” and reassuring us that DECC is as keen as we are to “secure a bright and sustainable future for the biomethane to grid industry”. Phew!
COMMUNITY RENEWABLES
Taskforce publishes proposals for shared ownership with communities
Since the REA’s merger with the Association for Organics Recycling (AfOR), the REA’s subsidiary company REAL has gone from strength to strength the organics sector. Scheme has a very healthy pipeline of projects, with eight biomethane projects totalling 400kWh per annum committed to the scheme as of April this year. On biofertiliser, REAL announced the updated years in the making!) in late July. The PAS 110 has been updated to make stability tests whilst strengthening the limits on contaminants (such as plastics). This should enable biofertiliser into the UK
8 REQ RENEWABLE ENERGY QUARTERLY | |
marketplace, whilst safeguarding its quality and safety. Plaudits are equally deserved
for the team REAL inherited from AfOR, who have done a sterling job on relaunching the with updated scheme rules and a new logo and website, unveiled at the end of July. The new website is designed
to make it easier for producers need to gain and maintain and also to enable farmers and quality compost. The new scheme rules should be simpler for producers to use, with 70 pages of rules condensed down to just 30 pages plus to
www.qualitycompost.org.uk for more info.
AUTUMN 2014
Draft proposals were published in June setting out how renewable power and green gas project developers could offer communities the chance to invest in their projects. From 2015, the Government wants it to “be the norm for communities to be offered the opportunity of some level of ownership of new, commercially developed onshore renewables projects”. The REA and the STA both sit on the taskforce that developed these proposals. The proposals outline three models that developers could use to offer investment opportunities to communities: split ownership,
where community groups physically own a given number of panels or turbines; shared revenue, where community enterprises buy rights to future revenue streams; and joint venture, where commercial operators and community enterprises work together to develop, own and manage a project. The REA and STA are
particularly keen to further discuss the role of crowd funding and local authorities and the impacts on more traditional of community innovation. The September.
Renewable energy companies and local communities are going into business together to develop green energy schemes
www.r-e-a.net
© WESTMILL SOLAR CO-OPERATIVE. PHOTO BY ADRIAN ARBIB
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