REA NEWS REQ
COMMUNITY RENEWABLES Government and industry seek to boost community energy
The UK’s push to get communities participating in the energy system, and reaping the benefits, is gathering momentum. In October, the industry-led Shared Ownership Taskforce published its final report to DECC, setting out three models that commercial developers and community groups can use to jointly own renewable energy projects. One of these models is called
“split ownership,” in which a community group directly owns a number of the assets (such as solar panels or wind turbines) in a commercial project. In November DECC confirmed
BIOMASS HEAT
REA pushes for clarity on RHI sustainability rules
From 2015, Government financial support for bioenergy will be subject to strict rules on greenhouse gas (GHG) savings and land use. The REA welcomes the introduction of these sustainability criteria, which will ensure that only environmentally friendly biomass practices are supported. However, although details of the GHG rules are well established, the land use rules have not yet been published, which poses particular problems in the heat sector. Wood fuel suppliers buy early and in bulk so that they are well stocked for future heating seasons. At the moment, they are unable to stock up for the 2015/16 heating season because they don’t know if the fuel they buy today will be compliant with these unknown land use rules. If the fuel is disqualified, it would become unsellable and burn a hole in the company’s finances. If fuel availability is impacted, prices for consumers will increase.
8 REQ RENEWABLE ENERGY QUARTERLY | |
This is why the REA is working with DECC and the Biomass Suppliers List administrator to ensure there is some flexibility in the first year of the new criteria. This should enable suppliers to
Wood fuel companies need time to learn how to work within the new regualtions
focus on sourcing sustainable, high quality wood fuel for their customers, without the fear that any errors in using the new reporting systems result in disqualification of their products.
that projects “split” this way into separate “sites” will be able to claim support under the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) while sharing the same grid connection. This means that the community’s assets and the developer’s assets can total up to 5MW each (10MW in total), instead of the usual size limit of 5MW.
These are just baby steps into community energy policy – there’s much work still to do! We’re keen to address issues with rapid FIT degressions for these projects and to promote the role of crowdfunding and local government.
Community owned solar power in Brixton, south London
REA UPDATE New faces at the REA
We’re saying goodbye to some staff members and hello to some new faces this quarter. David Collins will step down as Head of Biogas in January after 10 years working with the REA. David will represent REA Biogas in Europe and is handing over the reins to Kiara Zennaro, who is currently a Senior Technical Officer in the REA’s Organics Recycling Group. Kiara brings to the role a wealth of technical and commercial knowledge of both biogas and digestate.
Press Officer James Beard left
in November after three years to join the WWF to work on UK bioenergy and international air travel. We are welcoming back a couple of familiar faces too! Chris Miles, who used to chair the REA’s On-site Renewables Group, has now joined the executive team as our Senior Adviser for Renewable Heat. Finally Ray Noble, who has previously worked for both the REA and the STA on solar power, has now rejoined the REA as our Senior Adviser for Solar, Storage and Electric Vehicles (see p. 12).
WINTER 2014
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