31 March 2011

Anaerobic digestion wins in subsidy review

From Energy and Environmental Management (EAEM) Magazine feed source


The government is recommending increased support for farm-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) at the expense of “solar farms" over 50kW, in an effort to maximise the benefit of limited resources.


The new consultation follows the launch in February of the fast-track review into how the Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) work for solar photovoltaic (PV) over 50 kW. This followed evidence of 169 MW of large scale solar capacity in the planning system - equivalent to funding solar modules on the roofs of around 50,000 homes if tariffs are left unchanged.


The government feels that leaving this unchanged would soak up most of the subsidy that would otherwise go to smaller schemes or other technologies. Such a development was not envisaged at the start of the programme.


The consultation also recommends increasing support for farm-scale AD, as it has received disappointing uptake so far. The heat component of AD is also supported through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). This means that where the biogas is burnt to produce heat and power AD is eligible both for the RHI and FITs.


It could be argued that it doesn't matter where the PV modules are as long as they are generating electricity. But the government's concern is that PV be available to ordinary people and not big business.


Greg Barker, climate change minister, said: “I want to make sure that we capture the benefits of fast falling costs in solar technology to allow even more homes to benefit from feed in tariffs, rather than see that money go in bumper profits to a small number of big investors.


“These proposals aim to rebalance the scheme and put a stop to the threat of larger-scale solar soaking up the cash. The FITs scheme was never designed to be a profit generator for big business and financiers."


The consultation quotes figures saying that already prices for PV technology are 30% lower than originally projected. It argues that this means that the technology requires reduced support. Therefore installations larger than 50 kW will receive support as follows:


• 19p/kWh for 50kW to 150kW


• 15p/kWh for 150kW to 250kW


• 8.5p/kWh for 250kW to 5MW and stand-alone installations.


These compare with the tariffs that would otherwise apply from 1 April of:


• 32.9p/kWh for 10kw to 100kw


• 30.7/kWh for 100kw to 5MW and stand-alone installations.


These reductions are comparable to those in schemes in Germany, France and Spain, where tariffs for PV have been reduced sharply over the past year.


The new increased tariffs for AD, designed to make them more attractive, are:


• 14p/kWh for installations up to 250kW


• 13p/kWh for installations from 250kW to 500kW.


These compare with the tariffs that would otherwise apply from 1 April of 12.1p/kWh for AD up to 500kW. The tariff level set for biomethane injection into the gas grid under the RHI and also for small scale - below 200 kilowatt thermal (kWth) – combustion of the biogas produced by AD is 6.5 pence per kilowatt-hour of heat generated.


The idea is specifically to increase the energy obtained from waste through anaerobic digestion, not to promote energy crops, particularly where these might be grown instead of food crops. DECC is in discussions with Defra and others about ways to ensure this does not happen.


Subject to the outcome of the consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, the revised tariffs would be introduced from 1 August 2011.


Over 27,000 installations have been registered for the FIT scheme to date.


What is anaerobic digestion?


A survey last December found that 80% of farmers in the UK wanted to have solar photovoltaics on their roofs within the next three years - and yet the fact is, that in terms of the carbon saving and other benefits anaerobic digestion (AD) provides better value for money than solar PV.


For example, farmer Clive Pugh at Bank Farm, Mellington, near Churchstoke, Wales, put in his first AD plant 20 years ago. He now has a state-of-the-art, three chamber unit that provides all of the farm's own energy needs, and that for two homes and the farm dairy, as well as generating an income of up to £10,000 a month from supplying the National Grid - without the new FITs subsidy, because he was an 'early adopter' and so the scheme is excluded from it.


“We initially went for an anaerobic set-up because we needed a new slurry store and it was something we had been looking into for some years,” said Mr Pugh.


“It revolves around using the slurry from our 140-cow dairy herd. In order to keep the gas production fairly constant throughout the year, we also use poultry manure, silage effluent, waste silage, discarded milk and whatever other green waste we can get hold of.”


While ten cows are needed to produce 1kw of energy, in fertiliser value terms 1,000 gallons of separated liquid will provide around 30 units of nitrogen, 40 units of potash and 12 units of phosphate.


“The quality of our grass is certainly most noticeable these days, and our need for phosphate and potash is now nil. We also only need top-up units of nitrogen depending on the type of crops being grown,” Mr Pugh added.


In a typical plant, vats ferment farm slurry and crop waste (and can also process food waste) in the absence of oxygen to produce methane which can be used to generate heat and power.


The facility would normally be owned and operated by the farmer/farm business, but might sometimes be part of a co-operative venture. They often would not be approved to accept animal by-products at this scale.


The biogas produced in AD is a mixture of methane (65%) and carbon dioxide (35%) which can be used to generate heat through a boiler, or heat and power through a combined heat and power (CHP) system. In addition, following further processing, biogas is also a suitable fuel source for vehicles.


Hot water may be used on site, for example to heat polytunnels or greenhouses for market gardening. Some farms use AD to power a generator for the digester and pasteurisation. Other benefits include:


• it avoids landfilling of organic wastes;


• the biogas can be burnt as a fuel;


• there is a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions;


• it is a predictable and reliable source of electricity and energy, unlike wind power and PV;


• the digestate products return nutrients to the land, reducing dependence on inorganic fertilisers;


• there are economic benefits from reduced fuel and fertiliser use, as well as the subsidy;


• farms can become more self-sufficient, with socio-economic opportunities, e.g., gate fees can be charged for waste taken in and electricity, biogas, fertiliser and soil conditioner can be sold;


• odour is reduced by around 80% compared to farm slurry;


• methane (a greenhouse gas) emissions are reduced;


• a range of organic waste materials can be processed - the highest gas yields come from the co-digestion of fatty (food processing wastes), liquid wastes (animal slurries) and green wastes;


• the amount of farm slurry sprayed onto farmland - and of run-off and pollution of waterways - is reduced;


• harmful bacteria and viruses are destroyed, reducing the spread of harmful disease causing pathogens.


The energy generating potential is determined by the size of the digester and waste feedstock composition.


A typical farm installation might be up to 0.5MW. A small farm using farm waste can produce enough heat to warm the digester and meet domestic heating requirements. If electricity is generated through CHP of 10kWe capacity, enough electrical energy could be generated to supply up to 13 homes.


A brand new installation can cost anything from £150,000 for a fairly basic liquid-only unit to more than £375,000 for an all-embracing 120kW producing version.


This high initial cost is why the technology needs support at this stage. Without support, simple economic payback is approximately 20 years. Factoring in savings made in waste disposal, according to the Carbon Trust, mean that payback times for installations tend to be under five years. Compare this to solar PV in much of the UK, which is two to three times longer.


A range of AD scales exists, from single on-farm digesters through to large centralised anaerobic digesters (CAD) collecting waste from a larger surrounding area.


These CADs will usually accept animal by-product wastes for digestion. The gas produced at this scale can also be used for other purposes, for example to power vehicles or be injected into the National Grid.


AD at this scale is economically viable and requires little support. Most plants operate as co-digestion plants with slurries, in additional to wastes from the food, brewing and other industries.


This website and video is a useful source of further information.


In Germany, there are more than 3,000 on-farm anaerobic digesters, while in the UK there are perhaps around 50.


View the original article here

30 March 2011

Could anaerobic digestion by-products replace manufactured fertiliers?

The government has launched a study into how waste from anaerobic digestion plants could be used to replace manufactured nitrogen fertilisers to help control costs for farmers and boost production.


The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) last week announced it has kicked off a research programme designed to improve understanding of how effective digestate would be as a fertiliser for farmers.


Digestate is a waste produced through anaerobic digestion, a process that breaks down the waste in the absence of oxygen in order to produce biogas that can then be harnessed to produce heat and energy.


The resulting digestate is seen as a valuable source of available plant nutrients, particularly nitrogen, but the rate at which nitrogen is released for uptake by crops is not well understood.


WRAP hopes the project will fill this knowledge gap, enabling farmers to include digestate in their nutrient management plans, thereby displacing manufactured fertilisers, which are energy-intensive to produce, or phosphates, which are mined from non-renewable resources.


By investigating a range of variables in crop, soil and climate types, the project also aims to unearth new applications for digestates. For example, it could be used as a liquid fertiliser and applied to grassland to offer significant cost savings compared to traditional fertilisers.


The four-year project is also funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, WRAP Cymru, and Zero Waste Scotland.


Agriculture minister Jim Paice said the research will be crucial for boosting innovation in the sector to help farmers reduce costs and become more sustainable.


"Farmers know they have to become more innovative by producing both energy and potentially reducing fertiliser costs, so this research is critical," he said. "Young people especially understand the need for sustainability, so by working with colleges this will be an exciting project."


The news came as the government last week proposed increased feed-in tariff incentives for anaerobic digestion plants in an attempt to accelerate adoption of the technology amongst the farming community.


However, AD experts warned that the proposed incentives are still not attractive enough to encourage investment in the technology.


View the original article here

Plans to slash solar incentive published - FarmersWeekly

Plans to slash solar incentive published - 3/18/2011 - Farmers Weekly

Proposals to slash the financial incentive for large-scale solar installations and increase the payment for farm-scale anaerobic digestion have been published today (18 March).


The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced back in February that it would fast-track the review of Feed-in Tariff rates for solar installations over 50kW as it feared a massive surge in the number of field-scale “solar farms”.


As part of this review, a consultation published today proposes massive cuts to the tariffs for larger installations in a bid to calm these fears.


The current FiTs for solar PV are 31.4p/kWh for 10-100kW systems and 29.3p/kWh for larger 100kW-5MW systems. However, DECC suggests cutting these tariffs to:
• 50-150kW systems: 19p/kWh
• 150-250kW: 15p/kWh
• 250kW-5MW: 8.5p/kWh


The consultation also proposes to increase FiT payments for smaller anaerobic digestion projects in order to encourage more uptake of this technology on farms.


The current FiTs for AD are 11.5p/kWh for systems smaller than 500kWh and 9p/kWh for systems over this size. DECC suggests changing these bands and payments rates to:
• <250kW: 14p/kWh
• 250-500kW: 13p/kW


DECC is seeking views on the proposed tariffs until 6 May 2011 and any changes could take effect from 1 August this year, subject to the outcome of the consultation and Parliamentary approval.


The government said it would not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs would only affect new entrants to the FiT scheme. Installations already accredited for FiTs at the time would not be affected.


The news sparked a fierce response from the Renewable Energy Association, which said the coalition government was making an “horrendous strategic mistake” with its plans to slash rates for solar.


Chief executive Gaynor Hartnell said: “Larger PV projects are cheaper, and have a major role in driving down costs. We don’t want boom and bust in this sector either, but pulling the rug out from under the feet of those that have ventured into this market was precisely the wrong response.


“The UK will return to the solar slow-lane. It’s as good as a retrospective change and that does untold damage to investor confidence. It’s not acceptable and we will fight it.”


The consultation can be found on the DECC website.
© Reed Business Information Ltd
View the original article here

29 March 2011

Skeptical City Council Picks Apart Organic Waste Plan

Cedric de La Beaujardiere City Council, residents and staff debated anaerobic digestion for four hours on Monday night.


Shipping the city’s food scraps, yard trimmings and solid organic waste to large, regional facilities may pump twice as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as a local aerobic digestion plant, and may not be any cheaper, according to a report presented to the Palo Alto City Council Monday.


The report, which detailed a contentious preliminary analysis of alternatives for dealing with Palo Alto’s organic waste, or “residuals,” compared monetary and environmental pros and cons but was picked apart by city staffers who told the City Council not to read too far into it.


“We wouldn’t recommend drawing conclusions tonight from it,” said Phil Bobel, environmental compliance manager for the city of Palo Alto.


Up for debate is whether to build a dry anaerobic digestion (DAD) facility on a nine-acre portion of the city landfill at Byxbee Park, or to truck the city’s residuals to a DAD plant in San Jose or to a compost facility in Gilroy.


Right now, the city incinerates wastewater solids—known as “biosolids”—and ships away food scraps and composting yard trimmings, totaling about 60,000 tons per year. The city’s combined organic waste is expected to hit 74,000 tons per year by 2034.


Bobel said that the assumptions used in the study’s models would have to be rethought before city staff suggests a plan.


“A number of runs at the model with different assumptions would be good to see before drawing conclusions and making recommendations,” he said.


Even the consultant evaluating the DAD plans, Jim Binder of Alternative Resources Inc., agreed it was too early to draw conclusions, noting that the contractors who were contacted as potential vendors for processing the city’s waste were the ones who determined the estimated costs of those contracts.


Councilwoman Gail Price took issue with this fact.


“What is the process by which we validate these numbers?” she asked. “Am I misunderstanding what I heard … that the numbers were reported by the companies?”


Binder, who seemed uncomfortable defending an analysis he repeatedly explained was incomplete, said, “These are the best numbers that the companies can put forward. These are not bids. Companies aren’t in a position to be able to come up with those numbers.”


Indeed, there does not yet exist a dry anaerobic digester in the United States, he said, and thus any estimated cost is likely to be optimistically low. The DAD plant in San Jose, being built by Greenwaste, is still in the permitting phase and would be the first in the nation.


“My guess is that those numbers aren’t firm numbers, so just keep that in mind,” he said.


Furthermore, city staff insisted that public comments received earlier in the year had yielded tremendous input that should also be reviewed before making any final recommendations.


“It was the volume of comments from a range of perspectives by the public that really made it difficult to put us in a position to beg for some action,” said City Manger Jim Keene.


As Palo Alto Patch reported last fall, the two competing sides in this debate are both self-described environmentalists. In one corner, conservationists are arguing that Byxbee Park, which is protected parkland, should remain as such once the city landfill is taken offline next year. 


Former City Councilwoman Emily Renzel told the council Monday night not to “ruin Byxbee Park” with an industrial anaerobic digester when the city could take advantage of regional offerings.


“It makes no sense for every small city to make massive capital improvements rather than taking advantage of economies of scale regionally,” said Renzel, who prefers that the city upgrade the Water Quality Control Plant in order to process biosolids and continue exporting the rest of its organic waste


“Zillions of dollars might drop out of the sky to improve the [anaerobic digester] odds, but don’t count on it. Sooner or later, the costs will fall on ratepayers,” she said in a letter to the council.


In the other corner, climate activists argue that the city should be responsible for its own waste, and that to build a digester locally would allow the city to come much closer to its climate protection goals and, perhaps, even generate renewable energy.


Former Mayor Peter Drekmeier, who helped gather signatures for an initiative that would change the parkland designation of the Byxbee Park site so it could be built upon, touted what he said were significant environmental benefits to building a local digestion facility.


“One thing that people do agree on is that this project would be good for the environment, reducing greenhouse gases by 12,000 tons,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of what would be released by burning 1.2 million gallons of gasoline.”


Drekmeier went on to say that a local plant would help the city meet more than half of its goals for climate protection and save the city more than $2 million a year.


Nobody in the Council Chambers seemed wholly convinced about the economic viability of DAD technology.


Multiple council members wanted to know if a wet anaerobic digestion facility that could process all three kinds of waste might be feasible for the water control plant, and if gasification of methane produced by such a device might be used to produce renewable energy.


And then came a third option—plasma arc conversion—touted by Councilman Greg Schmid as one worthy of examination.


“The city of Salinas has been recommended a [plasma arc conversion] project that will achieve 98 percent recovery or reuse of all municipal solid waste,” said Schmid. “The technology has been endorsed by the EPA as the future.”


Bobel agreed.


“I think that Councilmen Schimid is on target,” he said.


The council eventually decided to table any decision on the issue until city staff could come back with better analysis of the DAD options as well as details of what would be required for an examination of the other alternatives presented Monday night.


 That meeting will occur in June.


View the original article here

28 March 2011

PMC BioTec Participation in UK Trade Mission Identifies Opportunity

March 28, 2011 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time Waste to Energy Biotechnology Leader Confirms UK’s Commitment to Funding Strategic Renewable Energy Initiatives on Recent Trade Mission Led by Massachusetts Governor Patrick


BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PMC BioTec, a global environmental biotechnology leader in the production of biogas, today announced, upon its return from a key trade mission to the United Kingdom (UK) conducted earlier this month, that the UK is committed to waste-to-energy initiatives including anaerobic digestion and the production of renewable biogas as part of a government mandate to achieve aggressive renewable energy levels.


“Based on the enthusiastic reception our renewable biogas technology received during our recent trade mission, PMC will be formally expanding its business operations in the UK”


Taking part in the Massachusetts Innovation Economy Partnership Mission 2011 led by Governor Deval Patrick, PMC BioTec met with leading government, university, and financial experts including Gregory Barker, the Minister of State in the Office of Energy and Climate Change for the United Kingdom. These meetings confirm the UK is committed to a goal of supplying 20 percent of its total energy requirements through renewable means by 2020 and allocating over £200 billion in funding for related projects.


“The positive reaction to PMC BioTec’s environmental biotechnology technology during our UK trade mission is encouraging,” said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. “The potential for wide scale adoption of this cutting edge technology could translate into an economic windfall for the state of Massachusetts, which is one of the leading proponents of innovative clean tech solutions on a global scale.”


PMC BioTec’s groundbreaking environmental biotechnology produces the fastest and most efficient anaerobic digestion process that doubles the production of renewable biogas while eliminating energy intensive and costly residuals disposal.


“Based on the enthusiastic reception our renewable biogas technology received during our recent trade mission, PMC will be formally expanding its business operations in the UK,” said Frank Sinton, Jr., CEO of PMC BioTec. “With government mandates for renewable energy initiatives that include waste-to-energy solutions that can be implemented with our breakthrough anaerobic AFC process, the UK represents a tremendous market opportunity for PMC BioTec.”


Anaerobic digestion technology capable of high volume biogas production is an important aspect of the UK’s renewable energy objectives as high volumes of food, human and agricultural waste is readily available for economic conversion to renewable energy.


“The ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) and tipping fees make waste-to-renewable energy farms very attractive in the UK, and we expect to be an important technology supplier to this market including exports of proprietary PMC equipment,” added Mr. Sinton.


About PMC BioTec


PMC BioTec is a global environmental biotechnology leader enabling waste water treatment operators, bio-refineries, and waste to energy biogas plants to double their production of biogas, recover nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer, and virtually eliminate damaging and energy intensive residuals disposal. The company's groundbreaking advances transform millions of tons of environmentally harmful bio-solids into renewable natural gas capable of producing billions of BTUs, clean water and valuable fertilizers. For more information please visit: http://www.pmcbiotec.com/index.html.


View the original article here

21 March 2011

Waste Treatment and Anaerobic Digestion Proposals in Devon - Waste Management World

10 March 2011

Proposals have been submitted to Devon county council for the construction of an advanced anaerobic digestion facility.


AAD (South West) Ltd - a partnership between UK based engineering company AeroThermal Group Ltd, and 4Recycling Ltd - is proposing the development of a sustainable waste and resource treatment facility at the site of Imerys Minerals Ltd's clay refinery plant at Lee Moor, South Devon.




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The above video is for illustrative pruposes only and not associated with the text article.


According to AAD, the site proposed is suitable as it already has existing plant and infrastructure that, with modifications, can be converted into an advanced anaerobic digestion facility.


A scoping report has been submitted to Devon County Council, that will provide its scoping opinion on the proposal at a later date.


The Scoping Report is one of the earliest stages of the planning process and nothing will be constructed until the proposal has passed through the full planning process and all surveys have been carried out.


AAD says that its proposal will provide an innovative and modern alternative solution to treat waste which would otherwise be sent tol andfill through the use of the AeroThermal Group Ltd's combination of industrial autoclave processing and anaerobic digestion technology, and 4Recycling Ltd's experience of running operational facilities.


AeroThermal Group Ltd is proposing to construct an advanced anaerobic digestion facility, which incorporates autoclave and anaerobic digestion.


According to the company the plant will separate out materials for recycling, generate energy, and produce a soil conditioner. The compost-like material produced by the process will be used at the nearby Imerys Minerals Ltd Lee Moor China Clay workings as part of their ongoing restoration programme.


Commenting on the proposal, the AeroThermal Groups Ltd's Commercial Director, Tristan Lloyd-Baker, said: "Our ?9 million investment will create 22 long-term, skilled jobs for local people. In addition the facility will divert up to 75,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year thereby avoiding harmful methane emissions and providing a facility to enable local businesses to maximise landfill diversion."


AAD says that it will be carrying out a public consultation prior to submitting a planning application, in line with national and local best practice guidelines.



View the original article here

Waste powers green hope - Montreal Gazette

Waste not, want not. That adage has a 21st-century twist here, where tonnes of sewage sludge are being converted into a renewable natural gas that promises to become a cash crop for this city.


The three tanks on the city's southern outskirts look like squat versions of the agricultural silos that dot this farming region. In fact, they are anaerobic digesters that process solids at the waste-water treatment plant.


It's a closed-loop, energy selfsufficient system that is unique to Quebec, rare in North America, and said to be saving the city more than a $1 million a year in waste-treatment costs. The modest-looking facility has become something of a mecca for folks interested in seeing the future of waste treatment.


"At last count, we have had about 850 visitors since operations started up in January 2010," Pierre Mathieu, head of the city's water-treatment division, said this week.


There has been a delegation from Gabon, representatives from municipalities and businesses in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, provincial officials, and college and university students.


Interest is particularly high in Quebec, where almost $650 million is available in federal, provincial and municipal subsidies to divert organic waste from landfill sites to composting centres or biogas plants.


Quebec's policy that will gradually ban organic material in landfill sites by 2020 is also acting as a spur.


St. Hyacinthe's current $5-million biogas system, which was built without subsidies, is expected to pay for itself within five or six years, Mathieu says.


Before it was in place, the city was hauling 13,500 tonnes of treated sewage a year to a landfill site where "tipping fees" averaged $90 a tonne. Each round trip was about 100 kilometres.


Now they have a treatment system that creates less residual matter and supplies the biogas needed to dry the material into a "digestate" that can be used - and maybe one day sold - as an organic fertilizer.


The city is applying for government aid to add anaerobic digesters to handle organic waste from city households and area businesses.


Among the companies interested in providing organic waste to the expanded treatment centre is Saputo Inc., said Michael Brown, business development director for Bio-Méthatech, the company that supplied the first digesters and hopes to supply Phase 2.


Saputo's cheese-making facility is close enough to the treatment centre that its cheese whey can be transported underground by pipeline, Brown said.


That rich feedstock, along with organic material from the chocolate factory and similar businesses, will supercharge biogas production, Brown said.


Surplus biogas will be upgraded and injected into the natural gas distribution grid operated by Gaz Métro, Mathieu said.


The city, which has yet to get government approval for the subsidized expansion, anticipates selling between 4 million and 5 million cubic metres of biomethane per year, Mathieu said.


The price has yet to be settled but it probably would be close to the market price of natural gas, about 25 to 30 cents per cubic metre, said Frédéric Krikorian, Gaz Métro's renewable energy project manager.


Biomethane-producing municipalities may also get a "green" premium for their renewable gas, Krikorian noted.


"In Quebec, the theoretical potential for biomethane production ... is about 15 to 20 per cent of the current natural gas consumption in Quebec, which is about 200 billion cubic feet per year," he said.


St. Hyacinthe is in the happy position of being located near Gaz Métro's pipeline.


Other municipalities that don't have the option of hooking into the natural gas grid can use surplus biogas to fuel municipal vehicles.


On the island of Montreal, four organic waste processing facilities are in the works.


Current plans call for the treatment of about 230,000 tonnes of organic waste annually either through composting or anaerobic digestion. Two biogas plants are envisioned.


Municipal biogas projects such as St. Hyacinthe's point to a new era in clean energy in North America, Kurt Sorschak, CEO of Xebec Adsorption Inc., said in a recent interview.


His Blainville-based company supplied the biogasupgrading technology at the wastewater treatment centre in Escondido, Calif.


That project - the first of its kind in California - will provide energy to about 1,200 homes.


"Waste-to-energy is the next big thing in renewables," said Sorschak whose company is active in Asia and, according to Sorschak, is the only foreign company with biogas upgrading operations in China.


"We can basically produce energy without wind or without the sun shining. We just use either the organic waste, wastewater, farm waste or manure from farms. It's a huge opportunity to generate renewable energy."


Asia promises to offer the greatest opportunities for biogas upgrading, but the U.S. and Canada represent compelling markets, he said.


"In the U.S., there are 1,000 waste-water treatment facilities large enough to warrant biogas upgrading, according to Environment Protection Agency numbers," he said.


Add to that large North American landfill sites that could also have economically viable biogas operations.


In Quebec, Xebec is tracking 14 municipalities that have expressed interest in biogas projects and the company hopes - and expects - to be awarded some of the contracts.


Xebec and Gaz Métro are among the industry players who see natural gas increasingly being used as a transportation fuel.


Gaz Métro is working with Robert Transport, a Boucherville-based trucking firm that has ordered 180 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks, with help from provincial government incentives.


The gas distributor plans to install three LNG refuelling sites along the highway corridor between Quebec City and Toronto.


"There is no renewable fuel standard for natural gas but it will come because it makes sense," said Sorschak who is positioning his company to benefit from the trend to natural gas vehicles and renewable gas through biogas upgrading.


Both Xebec and Bio-Méthatech point to Europe where anaerobic digesters are becoming commonplace.


According to one industry figure, biogas plants increased from about 300 in 2000 to more than 4,000 in 2008 in Europe.


Germany, where biogas helps feed the electricity grid, is the biogas leader.


Montreal-based Bio-Méthatech is a joint venture involving the family-owned Dominion & Grimm Inc. - suppliers of equipment to maple syrup producers - and waste management company RCI.


The company has the licence to represent and manufacture LIPP KomBio digesters, a German technology, in Canada and the Northeastern U.S.


In the past 18 months, three LIPP digesters were built in its territory - in St. Hyacinthe - while 80 were built in Italy alone, Bio-Méthatech general manager Vincent Pepin said.


"And in Germany, there is a war over waste," said Pepin, adding that waste collection territories are well-defined and regulated there.


The slogan on his business card sums up his company's expectations - and perhaps those of the blossoming Canadian waste-to-energy industry: Valuable green energy from manure.


lmoore@montrealgazette.com


TRANSFORMING WASTE INTO GAS


Anaerobic digestion involves the biodegradation of organic material in the absence of oxygen. Occurring naturally in nature - marshes, some animal digestive tracts - it can be reproduced in a controlled environment.


The resulting biogas is essentially methane and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can be removed and the biogas upgraded to pipeline-quality biomethane.


Biogas can also be upgraded and compressed for use as a vehicle fuel as compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas, which is favoured by the long-haul trucking industry.


In the U.S., biomethane is considered a renewable energy and qualifies for some energy subsidy programs.


One cubic metre of pure biomethane is the energy equivalent of 1.15 litres of gasoline or one litre of fuel oil or diesel fuel or 10 kWh of electricity.


Lynn Moore


RENEWABLE GAS REDUCES EMISSIONS


Dena, the German Energy Agency, assessed the impact of blending renewable gas with natural gas. Within the group of fossil fuels, natural gas has the greatest potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Dena said in the 2010 study. But adding biomethanal has a dramatic impact. Blending 20% biomethane can reduce CO2 emissions by 39% in comparison with petrol, while if pure biomethane is used, reductions of up to 97% can be achieved depending on the method of assessment used.


View the original article here

20 March 2011

TEG Group wins waste processing contract from LondonWaste Ltd - Proactive Investors UK


Design and production of specialised plant and equipment for the composting of organic wastes for sale to third party customers and in house projects


TEG Group wins waste processing contract from LondonWaste Ltd


Wed 8:39 am by Andre Lamberti


TEG Group wins waste processing contract from LondonWaste Ltd

Shares in The TEG Group PLC (LON:TEG) were lifted by news it won a contract from the operating company responsible for waste management for the North London Waste Authority.

London Waste Ltd (LWL) has awarded the group a contract to process mixed food and green waste for an initial 3-year term, commencing in April 2011, with an option to extend to April 2017. Financial details were not disclosed.

The stock rose more than 10 percent in early deals to 29 pence in response.

The annual volume of the waste is expected to be 12,000-15,000 tonnes with a maximum obligation on TEG of 20,000 tonnes per annum.

TEG Group develops and operates organic composting and energy plants, and is currently developing a new anaerobic digestion (AD) and in-vessel composing (IVC) plant in Dagenham, East London, which is expected to be in operation in 2012.  The waste from the latest contract will be processed at the Dagenham plant from 2012 and in the meantime will be processed at TEG's IVC plant at Carleton Rode.

TEG chief executive Michal Fishwick said "We are delighted to have secured our first contracted waste in London and look forward to the development of our AD and IVC facility in Dagenham.  It is very pleasing to have the support of LondonWaste Limited and this support will very much assist the development of the Dagenham plant."


View the original article here

19 March 2011

SBI Energy sees global waste-to-energy market at USD 27bn by 2021 - Waste Management World

ADP News Renewable Energy Track
March 11, 2011

The worldwide market for waste-to-energy technologies is to reach USD 27 billion (EUR 19.6m) by 2021 from USD 7 billion at present, SBI Energy writes in a recent study.




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The market research firm expects the market for incineration, gasification, plasma gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion to grow at an annual rate of some 11% in the next 10 years. The forecast is motivated by the projected growth trends within the sector in Europe, the US, India and China.


"As landfill availability continues to decline, the demand for waste management solutions will remain regardless of economic stresses, and will continue to drive the installation of new waste to energy facilities," SBI Energy publisher Shelley Carr said.


The sector has already experienced significant growth during the past five years, driven by global concerns and government actions related to climate change. In 2006 the waste-to-energy market stood at USD 5 billion.


At present, over 2 billion tonnes of waste are being produced each year globally. According to SBI Energy the amount provides more than 24 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btus) of available energy, or as much heat as is needed to supply some 10% of the global power consumption for a year.


(USD 1 = EUR 0.727)

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RHI level will help AD - The Low Carbon Economy

Lord Redesdale, chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, has welcomed the announcement of the Renewable Heat Incentive in the Spending Review.

"After months of work on the RHI, the Government's decision is very welcome. It will allow the huge increase in AD promised in the Coalition Agreement to be realised – the level of the RHI is a huge vote of confidence in this new and growing industry.


"The decision underlines ministers' commitment to AD, and has obviously involved a lot of complex work from civil servants to bring it to fruition, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them all.


"Moving forward, the Government now needs to consider steps such as socialising the cost of gas grid connection to encourage the best use of biogas for meeting the UK's targets, including the huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion which the coalition promised."


The announced level is 6.5p/kWh for biomethane injection to the grid, guaranteed for 20 years. AD has the potential to provide over 40 TWh of energy, which would be enough to heat a city larger than Birmingham and is equivalent to 20% of the UK's domestic gas demand.


Charlotte Morton, ADBA's chief executive, said: "As independent studies have shown, upgrading biogas to biomethane for grid injection is the best way to maximise the contribution of the AD industry to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy security issues. I hope that the RHI will now make this viable for many projects, and that the AD industry will expand to play a significant role in the UK's green energy mix."


Key facts you need to know about anaerobic digestion and biogas


• Anaerobic digestion  (AD) is a natural process which converts organic matter such as household food and garden waste, farm slurry, waste from food processing plants and supermarkets, into biogas.
• Biogas can be utilised to generate electricity, heat, and, upgraded to bio-methane, be either used as a transport fuel or be fed directly into the UK's gas grids.
• According to the Carbon Trust, the generation of bio-methane, which is very similar to natural gas, would save twice as much carbon dioxide as producing electricity by 2020.
• AD is the only renewable that can be scaled up fast enough to enable the UK to reach its 2020 renewable energy target.
• AD reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
• AD preserves critical natural resources such as nitrates and phosphorus. Phosphorous is a finite resource for which there is no known alternative. It is critical for plant growth and world resources are already running out.
• AD reduces our use of fossil fuels.
• AD significantly improves Britain's energy security.


Five facts you need to know about ADBA


• ADBA stands for the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association.
• The Anaerobic Digestion  and Biogas Association was founded in September 2009.
• Since its launch ADBA has acquired over 200 members.
• ADBA's chairman is Lord Redesdale, former energy spokesman of the Liberal Democrats.
• ADBA's aim is to help enable or facilitate the development of a mature AD industry in the UK and to represent all businesses involved in the anaerobic digestion and biogas industries, to remove the barriers they face and to support its members to grow their businesses and the industry to help UK plc meet its renewable energy, climate change and landfill targets, as well as the preservation of critical natural resources.


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18 March 2011

Anaerobic Digestion Facility Given Green Light in Warwickshire - Waste Management World

04 March 2011

Anaerobic Digestions (AD) specialist, BiogenGreenfinch has secured planning consent for the construction of an AD facility at Merevale & Blyth Estate in Warwickshire.


The 45,000 tonne per annum capacity plant will be built, owned, and operated by BiogenGreenfinch and will treat food waste collected from households, food manufacturers and food retailers in the region.


According to the company, the electricity produced by the Merevale plant will be enough to meet the annual demand of up to 2000 average homes - equivalent to the combined households of Baxterley and Atherstone in Warwickshire.


The food waste will be processed by means of anaerobic digestion in order to generate renewable electricity for the grid and a valuable biofertiliser for use on the surrounding Estate and other farmland.


Richard Barker, CEO explained that the Merevale site is a ideal for an AD plant - centrally located with excellent transport links to nearby large population centres.


This is a definite "win-win-win" project - we are diverting food waste from landfill, we are generating renewable electricity for the national grid and also delivering a fantastic biofertiliser for crops on the land around the plant. We look forward to working with local food waste producers in the coming months and years to make this plant a success"



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Landmark trials may open new markets for anaerobic digestate in landscaping - Pitchcare (press release)


By Press Release in Industry on 28th Feb 2011 8:00


Work is underway in England and Scotland on a series of landmark trials examining the potential for using anaerobic digestate as an alternative to commercial fertilisers in landscaping and regeneration projects.


The studies, organised by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), could have significant bearing for the UK's burgeoning anaerobic digestion (AD) industry by opening up potential new markets for digestate; the nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser produced as part of the AD treatment process for organic waste.




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The results could offer a cost effective alternative to expensive commercial fertilisers for the UK's landscape and regeneration sectors; benefiting small independent firms and large environmental regeneration projects.


Paul Mathers, Programme Manager, Landscape & Regeneration at WRAP, explains


"We have seen significant improvement in how vegetation establishes itself in brownfield restoration and sport turfs through the use of BSI PAS 100 compost. I am confident that anaerobic digestate offers similar environmental and economic benefits.


"If successful, the results will have far reaching implications for a wide range of regeneration programmes and sports turf applications. The use of anaerobic digestate could open new markets on a national scale."


English trials


In Yorkshire, Walker Resource Management (WRM) is working in partnership with the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) to examine the effectiveness of anaerobic digestate when used as a sports turf fertiliser.


Two field trials, one held at the STRI grounds and the second at Marsden Park golf course in Lancashire, will compare the performance of anaerobic digestate when injected into golf greens and fairways against surface application. The trial plots will be compared with ones treated with conventional industry fertiliser, and with untreated control sites. Grass cover will be measured and photographed monthly, and assessed by chlorophyll meter. The trials will run until early spring.


A third trial will examine a very different use for digestate. The site in question is located at Stannon pit, a former China clay pit near Camelford in Cornwall which is deficient in all major and most minor nutrients. A five hectare test area has been established within the 150 hectare site, which is currently being restored as part of a landscape scheme implemented by South West Water and monitored by Cornwall Council. Here, Waste Treatment Water (WTW) is examining the use of anaerobic digestate, alongside water filter sludge and BSI PAS 100 quality compost, to assess the suitability of digestate as an aid to establishing vegetation on harsh landscapes.


The trial, which is being conducted by contractor Nexus Sustainability, will look at soil function and physical structure and will report its findings in late March 2011. If successful, the study will feed into current thinking guiding mine restoration sites, initially in Cornwall and the South West.


Scottish trials


Further WRAP trials are also underway in Scotland, this time examining the use of anaerobic digestate in the establishment of newly planted trees and energy crops.


David Jarvis Associates, in partnership with Forest Research, is running the first of the three Scottish trials. Based at the Forestry Commission Newton nursery near Elgin, this study examines the effectiveness of anaerobic digestate when used in combination with BSI PAS 100 quality compost as a water retention 'blanket' to target root growth in trees, and in the retention of nutrients in soil. Alder trees will be used and soil quality and tree height will be assessed in the spring.


A second Scottish trial, located on the Heartlands brownfield restoration site at Polkemmet central Scotland, is being carried out by Earthcare to look at the benefits of using digestate in the growing of energy crops*.


The trial involves the planting of five hardwood tree species, including Red Alder, Cherry, Eucalyptus, Poplar and Birch into the site's poor quality soils - which have been blended with quality digestate and compost. Following the incorporation of the organic materials, the tree crops will be planted according to standard commercial practice.


The third Scottish trial is being run by the Forestry Commission. This will ascertain if silver birch, grown for biomass production, can be established on post-industrial land. Compost and digestate fibre will be cultivated into the existing soil and then planted in the tree plugs by spring. The project consists of two trial sites at Dalquhandy, a former open cast coal mine in Lanarkshire; and Addiewell, a former oil shale spoil tip in West Lothian.


The digestate used in all three Scottish trials is being provided by Scottish Water Horizons. The trials will assess improvements in the growing medium in the short term (by end of March 2011) by sampling the amended soils and assessing initial plant establishment.


Anaerobic digestion (AD) involves the breaking down of biodegradable material using micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen. It is currently used to treat wastewater at sewage treatment works in the UK, but can also be used to treat other organics wastes including household food waste, farmyard manures and energy crops. The process also provides a source of renewable energy in the form of biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide). Anaerobic Digestate, or biofertiliser, is the organic material produced during the process of anaerobic digestion. This is an organic material which is naturally high in valuable nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements required for healthy plant growth and fertile soil.

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17 March 2011

CPI opens anaerobic digestion centre - The Engineer


15 February 2011


Teesside, UK – The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has opened its Anaerobic Digestion Development Centre (ADDC) - a facility where companies can test and develop novel feedstock and technology combinations.




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CPI said it aims to provide the UK with a base to advance and develop new commercially viable processes and intellectual property in the area of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology.
click here


The Coalition Government has cited AD as being a vital tool in achieving its goal of becoming the greenest government ever.


Reducing carbon emission, providing energy security and generating green jobs, the Government’s aim is to be ambitious with its implementation of AD technology. CPI’s ADDC embodies this bold approach.


With national technology centres in printable electronics and industrial biotechnology already established and with a proven track record, CPI has received investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Control’s (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund (LCIF).


There are around 37 AD plants currently in the UK using food and farm waste, and another 60 planned or under construction. AD is an increasingly important technology as the UK pushes for a low carbon future.


The UK produces around 100 million tonnes of food, farm and other organic waste each year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This could be used to generate up to 7 per cent of the renewable energy required in the UK by 2020.


The ADDC can process a wide range of organic waste in single or mixed streams and has a range of adaptable pre-treatment, digestion and post-treatment technologies aimed at facilitating new and improved anaerobic digestion processes. Designed to be rapidly reconfigurable, it provides a ’plug and play’ solution for organisations wishing to improve and develop AD technology.


According to the CPI, the ADDC facility will, typically, conduct work and production runs with the aim of:


* Reducing the size and cost of AD installations
* Increasing the yield of methane from all types of feedstocks
* Further developing pre- and post-treatment technologies to improve yields
* Enhancing the properties of the digestate to develop high quality natural fertilisers
* Improving effluent water quality
* Developing purification and monitoring processes to allow the injection of biogas into the gas grid


Methane gas is one of the primary products of AD. It is created inside sealed tanks when micro-organisms digest biomass, and can be used to generate heat and electricity that can be either utilised on-site, by nearby businesses, housing developments etc, or put into the national grid. The biogas can also be used as a transport biofuel.


As part of the zero-waste solution, this helps reduce the consumption of and reliance upon dwindling fossil fuels and, therefore, reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


The ADDC provides a vital toolbox for those seeking sustainable low carbon alternatives to traditional energy production, while driving the UK’s AD advances and attracting wealth and opportunities for economic growth.


CPI director of sustainable processing and advanced manufacturing, Dr Chris Dowle, says: “The ADDC will offer the facilities and expertise to provide advice, guidance, trials and new technologies, which will accelerate the development and application of installations turning waste into energy, and other valuable products, naturally.”
Readers'


comments (1)


      SEAMUS CRICKLEY | 4 Mar 2011 2:06 pm


      This is a desirable facility for us as end-of-line design engineering companies in the bio-energy sector



Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/cpi-opens-anaerobic-digestion-centre/1007466.article#ixzz1GWLApyP4

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16 March 2011

Why a Best-Selling Energy Author Is Giving Away His Book for Free

“Writing Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies was a great project.  I had fun doing it, readers loved it, and a whole bunch of people bought it within the first week or so,” says Shields.  “Now it's time to move along – but before I do that, why not put it in as many people’s hands as possible?”

Download the free book:

http://2greenenergy.com/renewable-energy-facts-fantasies-ebook/

There is no doubt that the migration to clean energy is the most pressing issue of our time.  Whether our worries are global warming, peak oil, national security, or simply America’s competitiveness in world markets, or our siphoning off another $1 billion in our wealth off to foreign entities every day, 365 days a year, there is definitely room for concern.  In fact, you’ll have to try hard to find anyone who thinks that our addiction to oil and coal is a good thing.  But, looking at the problem in practical, realistic terms, how can we “get there from here?”  

According to Shields, “The truth is that we face tough realities. The technologies are constantly improving, albeit at an uneven rate.  And big money and politics make this ten times more complicated than it would have been if we were not talking about energy – home to the largest and most sophisticated business interests on Earth.  As I imply in the book’s title, we live in a world in which not everything is possible, and we must make difficult choices as we migrate away from fossil fuels in the direction of clean energy.”  

Book: Renewable Energy Facts and FantasiesThe book is based on interviews with 25 of the world’s top researchers, authors, analysts and industry leaders – a surprisingly large percentage of whom point to these “tough realities” that exist in the technology migration, the economic implications, and the political issues that affect the world energy industry.  

Shields continues, “All of us – well, almost all of us – want clean energy.  Whether our concerns are healthcare issues caused by emissions, enriching terrorists, military conflicts, social chaos and injustice, global climate change, or other forms of long-term environmental damage, there is no doubt that we need to put an end to our reliance on fossil fuels.  But it’s just not that easy. We would do well to understand the realities if we are to have informed, relevant discussions as to what we must do as a nation – and as a civilization.”  

Though Shields is by nature a modest gentleman, he doesn’t hide the fact that he believed in the book’s success from the onset. “I wrote it for several different groups – each fairly large. There are people who simply want a broad and objective treatment of the subject.  There’s a great deal of science, current events, international relationships, and economics to keep tabs on; that’s not an easy task for anyone,” Shields explains.  “But there is also a significant business audience,” as folks see a multi-trillion dollar industry forming and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to be a part of that too.’” 

Reviewers have gushed praises. Paul Scott, co-founder of Advocacy group Plug-In America writes: 

The whole 2GreenEnergy project is extremely worthwhile -- and this "Facts and Fantasies" is a good example of the value that Craig and his team add to the renewables and sustainability movement.  It would be hard to find more stimulating ideas – and more compelling reasons to move to clean energy, all stuffed into one small place. Readers will walk away with a greatly expanded understanding of the factors that face us all in our quest for clean energy.

Shields is already hard at work, setting the course for his next book, in which he’ll continue along the path of his independent investigation: What, pragmatically, are we facing – technologically, economically, and politically – in terms of the migration to renewables?


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Feed-in Tariffs or Bidding: How Best to Assign Renewable Contracts

The reference is specifically to the unprecedented financial innovation that occurred over the course of the last decade, innovation that was heralded by many within the sector as a means of improving the overall "efficiency" of the financial market. Efficiency in this context means that resources (financial and other) would be allocated in a way that would better promote human welfare.

As the economy continues to reel from the effects of the financial crisis, average citizens may be excused for failing to see the welfare gains that came from all this "innovation;" indeed, two years on, it is now generally acknowledged that this innovation was taken too far, and resulted in a net loss of welfare for society, and for the taxpayers who are now footing the bill.

One of the insights behind Lord Turner's comment is that, in such situations, it is indeed possible for us to be penny-wise and pound-foolish, to put too much faith in efficiency at the expense of market stability.

An Analogy

An analogy can be drawn between this situation and the current debate unfolding in the U.S. surrounding renewable energy policy, in particular the debate between standard offers (or feed-in tariffs) and renewable auction mechanisms (or RAM).

Standard offers guarantee a fixed price for electricity sold to the grid and are generally awarded specifically to renewable energy projects to bolster revenue certainty and reduce overall investment risks. The electricity can be generated by a host of different renewable electricity technologies, including solar, wind, biogas, and geothermal power.

The price offered to each technology and size class is generally determined through detailed analyses of renewable energy project costs. These analyses provide benchmark prices that are locked in and offered for a fixed period of time, until market conditions change and require the prices awarded to subsequent projects to be adjusted, either automatically or by review.

Standard offers are currently being used in the U.S. by municipal utilities in places such as Gainesville, Florida, and in certain states such as Vermont and are being considered across the U.S. from states ranging from Colorado and Arizona, to New York and Michigan.

The renewable auction mechanism relies instead on a form of "reverse" auction, a process through which individual developers bid against one another to provide a certain block of electrical capacity. The goal of using an auction mechanism is generally to deliver the lowest cost electricity to the grid.

Conventional economic theory holds that such a competitive process should, by definition, yield the most "efficient" outcome. A competitive process will tend to foster more accurate price discovery, leading to fairer (i.e. more accurate) prices, and ensure that ratepayers are not overpaying for renewable electricity. This is "allocative efficiency".

The competitive nature of auction-based mechanisms is rapidly making them a favored policy option among U.S. policymakers, who are concerned that standard offers and other such policies that "set the price" will result in disastrous inefficiencies.

It is argued that these inefficiencies will result primarily because no third-party analysis can ever rival the market mechanism in terms of price discovery: prices will deviate from reality, supply will exceed demand, and the entire electricity market will be distorted beyond recognition. Thus, the reasoning goes, no standard offer framework could ever be as "efficient" as an auction-based system.

As a result, it is commonly argued that such policies will overcharge ratepayers, decrease social welfare, and bring us all one catastrophic step closer to communism.

Theory & Practice

This debate merits a closer look.

It is inevitable that standard offer policies will occasionally deviate from "market realities" in certain project classes, at certain points in time, resulting in higher payment levels being awarded to certain project owners than intended by policymakers.

By the same reasoning, these deviations will also work the other way at times, leading to lower returns in some project classes, which will tend to slow the rate of investment, and signal the need for a correction. The objective ultimately is to ensure that prices are "about" right, hovering in range that allows profitability, while encouraging private investment, and stimulating the development of new electrical capacity.

However, despite its many imperfections, the overall system has been shown to work rather well, and accomplishes precisely what it is designed to accomplish: namely, encourage the rapid and sustained scale-up in renewable energy investments.

Standard offers achieve this by creating the conditions of stability, transparency, and investment certainty required to finance large volumes of capital intensive assets. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, standard offers may well be the worst renewable energy policy going, except for all the others.

What's Wrong with Auctions?

Indeed, auction-based mechanisms are not without their flaws either. Under an auction-based system, an incentive is created for bidders to bid as low as possible in order to increase their chances of securing a contract. Recent experience from jurisdictions such as China and Brazil suggests that underbidding is widespread, and contract failure rates remain high, leading to slower growth.

If repeated over several auction cycles, this process can be timely, costly and highly inefficient, both for regulators and investors, and can effectively undermine investor confidence, as well as a jurisdiction's ability to meet renewable energy targets on time.

On a different level, auctions significantly increase the overall risk of renewable energy investments, as there is a relatively low likelihood that any individual project will receive a contract. Bidders must therefore put up significant sums in order to mount a bid at all, adding layers of transaction costs with little assurance that this risk will be rewarded with an actual contract to build. This risk must then be reflected in the cost of capital, as both debt and equity providers will rightly identify increased contract and completion risks, and demand higher returns. These higher returns may well wipe out any gains derived from greater price efficiency.

A further challenge with an auction-based mechanism is that it will prove exceedingly difficult under such frameworks to develop robust and dynamic manufacturing and supplier markets, partly because the latter will have to rely largely on periodic auction calls.

In other words, the final market demand for renewable energy products and services under an auction framework becomes contingent on the ability of the auction to result in viable contracts (i.e. bankable projects). If it largely fails to do so for a significant period of time, any local renewable energy industry is likely to fail along with it.

This can lead to a start-and-stop pattern of development, potentially creating another kind of "valley-of-death" for renewable energy manufacturers and service suppliers.

Finally, auctions by design create a higher barrier to entry for new players. This may in fact result in less competition, not more, as fewer developers can afford (or stomach) the high upfront costs (and risks) of participating. This could have the unintended consequence of discouraging innovation within the market, potentially driving entrepreneurs to focus on sectors with lower barriers to entry.

Tradeoffs and Takeaways

The key behind the success of standard offer policies is that the price is designed to approximate the cost of generation, and offer a reasonable rate of return on investments in different renewable energy project classes. In so doing, they create a continuous stream of project-level investments and foster stability within the regional renewable energy market.

Under standard offers, the prices are known, and set for a certain period of time, communicating a transparent signal to the marketplace. Provided the policy is framed within a longer-term objective, such as a Renewable Energy Standard, this enables longer-term capital investments in manufacturing and associated industries to take place.

In countries like Germany, this stability is valued as an objective in itself, as it fosters job creation, reduces the cost of finance and the barriers to entry, and leads to positive cluster effects as industries develop in proximity to one another. This leads to more robust supply chains and more efficient communication between suppliers and developers.

In fact, this policy stability has been one of the most decisive factors in helping Germany become a major hub in global renewable energy supply chains, developing a powerful export complex that now yields an annual turnover in the tens of billions of dollars. This stability has also enabled its renewable energy sector to weather the financial crisis surprisingly well, as financing continues to be available for relatively low-risk capital investments.

However, it has been argued that auction-based mechanisms may be more suitable for larger (>100 MW) projects where there is a greater risk that these relatively minor losses in allocative efficiency will result in fairly significant losses at larger project sizes. This would occur if the standard offer price deviates significiantly from actual, risk-adjusted generation costs, and awards an unreasonably inflated price over a 20-to-30-year period of time.

Yet, it remains the case that larger capex projects require greater investment certainty, not less. Thus price certainty and transparency are arguably even more important at this scale than at smaller sizes. This suggests that standard offers may still be a tradeoff worth making at this scale, particularly if policymakers aim to stimulate rapid and sustained investments in renewable energy projects.

Provided proper checks are in place to counter the formation of bubbles, as occurred in Spain in 2008, the overall gains derived from the stability and certainty of standard offer frameworks arguably outweigh the losses in "allocative efficiency" that can result from temporary price divergences.

At its most basic level, implementing a standard offer policy is a tradeoff, one between greater investment certainty on one hand, and gains in allocative efficiency on the other hand.

If Lord Turner is right, it may in fact be better in the long run to be pound-wise, than penny-foolish.

This article is a guest post by renewable energy policy expert Toby Couture that was reprinted by Paul Gipe. The original article, Penny-foolish or Pound-wise: The Case of Renewable Electricity Policy, can be found on the E3 Analytics website. 

Toby Couture is Energy & Financial Markets Analyst at E3 Analytics, based in London. He works and writes on renewable energy finance and policy issues, and has published widely in the renewable energy field. He is currently completing a degree at the London School of Economics. More analysis can be found E3 Analytics.  


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15 March 2011

BTEC Webinar to Tackle Biomass Air Emissions, Boiler MACT, and Control Technologies

By Biomass Thermal Energy Council   |   2011-03-11 09:37:00.0 March 11 - Washington, D.C Engage three diverse perspectives on biomass air quality issues that impact your organization, business, or community. Register now and attend, "Biomass Air Quality: Measuring, Controlling, and Regulating Emissions," a free webinar on Thursday, March 17 at 2PM ET, by the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC).

Across the nation, citizens and businesses alike have been asking and responding to complex questions on emissions from biomass energy applications: what is the carbon profile of biomass; how clean is biomass combustion; and, how will biomass be regulated? Gain insight into these questions and more during this free webinar.
 

Register here 

Event Description

This free webinar will address issues concerning emissions from biomass thermal conversion technologies. Topics include:

A review of the Environmental Protection Agency's new Boiler MACT rules    Comparing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from different biomass end uses  New studies and tools for calculating biomass emissions  Exploring pollution control technologies for biomass thermal technologies  Question & Answer session with the speakers.  Read more >> 
Speakers
Jim Eddinger, Energy Strategies Group, Environmental Protection Agency   Carrie Lee, Staff Scientist, Stockholm Environment Institute    John Hinckley, Principle Consultant, Resource Systems Group   Moderator - Joseph Seymour, BTEC Program Coordinator for Policy and Government Affairs.  Read more >> Registration and More Information
Advance registration is required, click here to sign-up>>  This webinar is free of charge You only need a computer, internet access, and at least one hour of your time Time and Date: Thursday, March 17 at 2PM ET      All registrants will have access to a live recording and copy of the presentation after the webinar.  For additional questions on this event, please contact: Joseph Seymour
Program Coordinator - Policy and Government AffairsAbout the Biomass Thermal Energy Council  The information on this page was created and posted by the company identified above. RenewableEnergyWorld.com does not endorse, edit, or substantiate this information and assumes no obligation for this content's accuracy.

View Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC)'s Profile About: The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) is a nonprofit association dedicated to advancing the use of biomass for heat and other thermal energy applications. ... more »

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14 March 2011

Methane emission from fixed dome biogas plants in hilly and plain regions of northern India [An article from: Bioresource Technology]

Methane emission from fixed dome biogas plants in hilly and plain regions of northern India [An article from: Bioresource Technology]This digital document is a journal article from Bioresource Technology, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Methane emissions from the slurry displacement chambers of different fixed dome type biogas plants (Capacity 2 m^3) installed in hilly and plain regions of northern India were quantitatively estimated. The slurry temperature in the biogas plants in the hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of 1300 m above mean sea level remains below the lower mesophilic range (16-25 ^oC) during most part of the year. Difference in the ambient temperature under the two climatic conditions of Hills and plain regions affects the CH"4 flux. Methane fluxes from the plants ranged between 7 and 120 gm^-^2d^-^1. In northern plain, temperature remains warm (21-33 ^oC) throughout the year except during winter (December to January) when there is a steep fall. Seasonal emission of CH"4 ranged between 10 and 178 gm^-^2d^-^1. The annual average methane emission from the biogas plants in plain areas was 83.1 gm^-^2d^-^1 as compared to 43.1 gm^-^2d^-^1in the hilly areas. Annual contribution per plant to the global methane budget from a fixed dome biogas plant (Cap 2 m^3) in plain region of northern India was 53.2 kg as compared 22.3 kg in hilly area.

Price: $8.95


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13 March 2011

POTENTIALITIES OF BIOGAS TECHNOLOGY: PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF BIOGAS

POTENTIALITIES OF BIOGAS TECHNOLOGY: PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION  OF BIOGASRational utilization of different wastes is an important problem of today. It is connected on one hand, with an opportunity of the use of a huge energy potential of a biomass for the production of liquid and gaseous fuel (biogas) and on the other hand with the necessity of the preservation and improvement of the ecology of an environment by the prevention of pollution of reservoirs, infection of ground by pathogenic bacteria and decrease of the cutting down of woods. In this book information presented is not only regarding traditional biogas digesters constructed in a number of Asian and European countries; but it also contains information regarding emerging technologies as bio-reactors for the hydrogen production. This indeed is a very promising emerging technology at present, by taking into account the importance of hydrogen economy for future energy production and storage. A number of topics including production of biogas, its upgrading, utilization, conversion into mechanical and electric power, economic analysis and safety regulations during use are described due to their practical importance at present.

Price: $65.00


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