The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) was delayed because the European Commission is not convinced about the environmental credentials of biomass. It feels the proposed subsidy for biomass is too high.
This news came hot on the heels of the announcement that the EU also doesn’t consider proposed new biofuel power stations to be green enough. Three UK coal stations, which were due to close in 2015, may be shut down even sooner because they are in breach of EU rules on emissions and running hours.
These important power generators were due to continue until 2015, so our already alarming energy gap is suddenly looking even wider. The Government has been working hard to help coal-fired stations switch to biomass, but now the European Environment Agency has suggested that bioenergy may be no greener than fossil fuels putting this whole strategy in doubt.
Against the economic backdrop of the Eurozone crisis, this is not doing much for the confidence of potential investors in renewable energy. It was very embarrassing that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had just 24 hours notice of the EC decision to veto the RHI launch. As the saying goes: ‘Stuff happens’, but this does bring DECC’s credibility into question – they should have seen this coming. It is embarrassing as well as potentially damaging to the UK’s renewables strategy.
Tariff
So, what happens now? The RHI will go ahead – DECC says from next month – and the higher end biomass tariff will be revised downwards. This will make biomass far less attractive to some potential users, but it will still play an important role.
Current planning laws and the Building Regulations support the use of biomass as an alternative to fossil fuel heating systems – those two things alone mean it will continue to figure highly in specifiers’ thoughts.
It is also possibly a cheaper energy source, in the long run, than gas and electricity as the government policy and rising world demand keeps the pressure on fuel prices.
The secret is only using biomass in the right application. It has been abused to get projects through the planning process and it has been specified with little thought given to how the fuel supplies were to be sourced. It is only sustainable if there is a good local source –transporting wood chips over vast distances makes little economic or environmental sense.
A more realistic tariff will probably reflect these drawbacks – and that is only right. However, it is also important that we do not price biomass out of the equation. It is a real renewable with good environmental credentials if properly applied by skilled building engineering services companies. Converting to biomass from conventional systems is not cheap, so investors will need a realistically high incentive when the RHI does finally begin.
This news came hot on the heels of the announcement that the EU also doesn’t consider proposed new biofuel power stations to be green enough. Three UK coal stations, which were due to close in 2015, may be shut down even sooner because they are in breach of EU rules on emissions and running hours.
These important power generators were due to continue until 2015, so our already alarming energy gap is suddenly looking even wider. The Government has been working hard to help coal-fired stations switch to biomass, but now the European Environment Agency has suggested that bioenergy may be no greener than fossil fuels putting this whole strategy in doubt.
Against the economic backdrop of the Eurozone crisis, this is not doing much for the confidence of potential investors in renewable energy. It was very embarrassing that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had just 24 hours notice of the EC decision to veto the RHI launch. As the saying goes: ‘Stuff happens’, but this does bring DECC’s credibility into question – they should have seen this coming. It is embarrassing as well as potentially damaging to the UK’s renewables strategy.
Tariff
So, what happens now? The RHI will go ahead – DECC says from next month – and the higher end biomass tariff will be revised downwards. This will make biomass far less attractive to some potential users, but it will still play an important role.
Current planning laws and the Building Regulations support the use of biomass as an alternative to fossil fuel heating systems – those two things alone mean it will continue to figure highly in specifiers’ thoughts.
It is also possibly a cheaper energy source, in the long run, than gas and electricity as the government policy and rising world demand keeps the pressure on fuel prices.
The secret is only using biomass in the right application. It has been abused to get projects through the planning process and it has been specified with little thought given to how the fuel supplies were to be sourced. It is only sustainable if there is a good local source –transporting wood chips over vast distances makes little economic or environmental sense.
A more realistic tariff will probably reflect these drawbacks – and that is only right. However, it is also important that we do not price biomass out of the equation. It is a real renewable with good environmental credentials if properly applied by skilled building engineering services companies. Converting to biomass from conventional systems is not cheap, so investors will need a realistically high incentive when the RHI does finally begin.
For more about what biomass is and how it works click here for our guidance document.
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