Bioliquids – out in the cold?
Source: CIWM, June 2010
A number of recent DECC consultations on renewable heat and electricity have made clear that no support is proposed for commercial-scale use of bioliquids under the new Feed-in Tariffs or Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), and that support currently provided for them under the Renewables Obligation (RO) will not be "grandfathered" (i.e. guaranteed throughout lifetime of the plant for existing generators).
One of the purported rationales for this omission is that bioliquids, being a finite resource, may be better employed against targets for transport and domestic heating, and incentivised in these applications instead. However, this fails to recognise that only high grade bioliquids can be used in these applications – and leaves low grade bioliquids with an uncertain future under the RO, being subject to potential changes in support at banding reviews, and no support under Feed-in Tariffs or the RHI.
The proposals, if implemented, would have a potentially significant impact on the development of a decentralised network of CHP plants, such as the Cogeneration Directive requires Member States to encourage, as the limitations of solid biomass fuels, including their low energy density and storage requirements, effectively preclude their use below a certain scale. Low grade bioliquids are one of the few biomass fuels that overcome these difficulties and can be successfully scaled down sufficiently to be used in small-scale onsite industrial CHP plants.
Investment in the growing bioliquids sector therefore looks increasingly uncertain, as industry comments on DECC proposals in the hope of swaying policy to take account of bioliquids not capable of being diverted into transport use.
AUTHOR: VINCENT BROWN
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