The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) has warned that “hundreds” of small AD plants could go under by 2031 as Government subsidies are withdrawn.
A survey of ADBA members revealed the number of plants that will no longer receive subsidies through the feed-in tariff (FIT) and renewable obligation certificates (ROC) schemes in the next 10 years.
ADBA said operators will be “unable to justify maintaining and replacing worn-out equipment”.
The association calculated the national grid could lose 2TWh of clean electricity as a result.
So what is next after AD Plants? – wind and solar are both subsidised with much of the 40% of the retail cost of electricity going toward those subsidies. Are the current mechanisms sustainable in the long term? Is it realistic to expect investment in low-carbon sustainable energy without a long term guarantee mechanism. We privatised British Gas and then the regional power companies in the 1980’s and 90’s but still we need government support before they invest in generation and transmission infrastructure, so should we be asking ‘what is the point’? Does this convoluted system really keep costs down?