UK renewable energy company applauds government u-turn

The UK government’s u-turn on financial support for small-scale anaerobic digestion plants has been welcomed by many up and down the country.

In its review of support for renewable energy published in July, the government had proposed removing ROC support for small new anaerobic digestion plants from 1 April 2013.

But the u-turn now means facilities that produce between 50kW and 5MW will continue to receive Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).

‘This is a welcome decision that will do much to expand the anaerobic digestion industry, which is under-deployed in the UK,’ says MD of renewable energy company Ener-G, Derek Duffill. ‘Customers now have the flexibility to select either feed-in tariff or ROC support, which helps provide long term certainty and confidence to investment decisions.’

Ener-G also welcomed the government's decision to continue maximum ROC support for advanced conversion technologies, such as gasification processes, which Duffill believes will unlock much needed new generation infrastructure.