Biomethane
BIOMETHANE – THE SLEEPING GIANT OF AD
I
t has been an interesting year for the anaerobic digestion sector, with much of it spent waiting for the government’s response to its consultation on the future of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). However, the general feeling is
that the published proposals represent good news on the back of a surprisingly positive 12 months for biogas. And if there is one area in which the mood is most upbeat, then it must surely be the biomethane sector.
The demand for green gas is rising. The biomethane-to-grid sector has seen the largest growth in the biogas industry over the last three years, with almost 90 plants now feeding green gas into the grid. Of these, 77 have been commissioned since 2013, with the agricultural sector generating more than 50 per cent of the total biomethane produced. By the end of 2016, the sector was producing 58,520m3
/h of biomethane, representing around 2.6 TWh of energy.
The importance of support However, the importance of long term, appropriate levels of support for the continued success of the biomethane sector cannot be underestimated. While not as severe as the tariff degression seen for biomass combustion, support levels for biomethane under the RHI fell sharply in the last two years, with tariffs reducing by a total of 44 per cent from January 2015 to January 2017. Fortunately, the government’s latest announcement, just before Christmas, goes some way to counteracting this, with RHI tariffs for plants of all sizes increasing by around a third and pre-accreditation guarantees for all biomethane projects and all biogas heat projects above 600 kWth.
According to Cian O’Donnell, Renewable Energy Consultant with Octego, this should allow continued investment in the sector: “This latest stimulus provides the financial certainty needed to boost the growth of the industry, as many investments were put on hold until the latest changes were confirmed. The tariff reset will boost investor interest, with the tariff guarantee mechanism providing a catalyst to reach financial close.”
Green gas can play a major
part in decarbonising Britain’s domestic heat network
8 AD & BIORESOURCES NEWS | SPRING 2017
www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org
For ADBA’s Policy Officer, Thom Koller, it’s important, however, that government continues to be reminded of the damage that further degression could cause. “In our response to the RHI consultation last summer, we pushed for the biogas heat tariffs to be reviewed alongside those for biomethane. We then built on the case made in our consultation response and wrote to Baroness Neville-Rolfe, the former Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property, to set out our case, as tariffs were, at that time, almost a third of what they were when the consultation questions were set,” he explains. “We also reiterated the importance of changing the degression mechanism so that in future, any degressions would
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