Register your biomass fuel as sustainable
1 May 2014 11:27 AM
From
yesterday, woodfuel suppliers are able to register their fuels as sustainable
by applying to the Biomass Suppliers List (BSL).
This is a first
for the UK biomass sector and a major milestone in ensuring biomass supported
under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is sustainable.
The BSL will help
develop the growing market for renewable heat providing opportunities
throughout the supply chain.
Producers and
traders of woodfuel who wish to access the growing RHI market can apply for free to the
BSL(1). Small and micro enterprises will be able to use a new simple carbon
calculator developed to make the process as easy as possible for small
businesses.
Larger enterprises
will be able to use the UK Solid and Gaseous Biomass and Biogas Carbon
Calculator to calculate the GHG emissions associated with their fuel.
Individuals and businesses that self-supply their own fuel are also encouraged
to register as ‘self-supplier’ (2) as soon as possible.
From Autumn 2014
all biomass fuel used by households, businesses and other organisations
claiming the RHI must meet a lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target of
60 per cent and GHG savings against the EU fossil fuel average (3).
The BSL was
developed and will be run by Gemserv, partnering with Woodsure, HETAS and
Borough IT.
Notes
- Producers
and producer-traders should apply as early as possible. Traders may wish to
encourage their producers to apply to the list before making their own
applications, as this is likely to make it easier for traders to
apply.
- RHI
participants will be able to register on the Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) as a
‘self-supplier’ if their installation is less than 1MWth capacity,
and if they source fuel from the same estate as the boiler. Self-suppliers will
also be able to source waste woodfuel from outside their estate for use in
their installation. For the purposes of self-supply in the BSL, an estate
comprises the buildings and supporting land and woods that is owned by, or has
the legal rights to source from, one person, a family, an organisation, a
single farm business or a commercial business. The land and buildings may or
may not be contiguous but should be within reasonable distance of the boiler. A
reasonable distance is defined as follows: the biomass source must be within 50
miles of the boiler.
- The
public facing list of authorised fuels will be made available to consumers once
a sufficient proportion of traders have registered their fuels and their
applications have been processed. We expect this to be later this Spring,
although it will depend on the rate and distribution of applications, and will
ensure the public facing list is made available sufficiently ahead of the
regulations coming into force.