PowerNews UK bioenergy production increases
European Commission adopts new renewable energy funding guidelines
UK bioenergy capacity (in MW) 2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Landfill gas
968
1,008
1,050
1,036
1,049
Sewage sludge digestion
157
193
198
199
207
Energy from waste
384
428
544
593
576
Animal biomass (non-AD)
111
111
111
111
111
12
38
66
110
129
Anaerobic digestion Plant biomass Total reneable energy capacity
284
315
1,149
1,203
1,992
8,011
9,215
12,264
15,538
19,438
SOURCE: U.K. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change has released provisional annual energy data for last year, reporting a 28 percent increase in renewable generation. The renewables share of total generation increased by 3.2 percent, reaching a record 15 percent of total energy generation in 2013. According to the DECC, total energy production in 2013 was 114.0 million metric tons of oil equivalent, 6.6 percent lower than 2012, due primarily to reductions in the production of coal, oil and gas. Bioenergy and waste consumption, however, rose by 18.7 percent when considering seasonally adjusted and temperaturescorrected annualized rates. This increase reflects higher use in electricity generation. The report shows that bioenergy, which includes cofiring, generated 18.7 terawatt hours of electricity last year, a 28 percent increase over 2012. The increase is attributed to more capacity from conversions.
10 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | JUNE 2014
The European Commission has adopted new rules on public support for environmental protection and energy projects. According to the commission, the guidelines promote a gradual move to market-based support for renewable energy. The guidelines also call for a gradual introduction of a competitive bidding process for allocating public support to renewable energy projects. Feed-in tariffs would also be gradually replaced with feed-in premiums, which are expected to expose renewable technologies to market signals. Certain exemptions would be available for small systems and in circumstances where member states demonstrate the bidding process would lead to an unsatisfactory outcome. Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the U.K.-based Renewable Energy Association, called the commission’s guidelines a “huge leap into the unknown.” He added, “These new guidelines are based on economic modelling, which suggests that competitive mechanisms will deliver equally good results at lower cost to the consumer. We support measures to reduce policy costs as renewables continue their journey towards price parity with fossil fuels. But putting so much faith in untested theory is a big risk, especially when the U.K. is in such desperate need of new capacity.”