DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (228/08) issued by
The Government News Network on 16 July 2008
Fifty senior
industry and NGO executives met Defra ministers today to discuss
multi-million pound plans to make greater use of anaerobic
digestion - the technology which produces energy from organic
material like food waste and manure. The meeting heard that the
process could produce enough electricity to power two million homes.
Representatives from the agriculture and biogas industries,
supermarkets, water and energy companies, the waste and food
sectors, NGOs, Regional Development Agencies, local government and
regulators met Defra ministers Phil Woolas, Jeff Rooker and Joan
Ruddock to discuss practical ways to achieve a major increase in
the use of this environmentally friendly technology. Ministers
also gave details of how a £10 million programme of
'demonstrator' projects - announced by Hilary Benn in
February - could help to encourage investment.
Delegates agreed to work with Government and each other to
overcome the barriers to the greater use of anaerobic digestion
and to take action to increase its capacity in this country. A
follow up meeting in the autumn will review progress and set out
ways to reach this goal.
Anaerobic digestion breaks down organic matter to produce biogas
which can be used as a renewable energy source for heat and power,
and as a transport fuel. It produces a nutrient-rich digestate
which can be used as fertiliser, and importantly it keeps organic
waste out of landfill, which cuts greenhouse gas emissions.
Phil Woolas said:
"Anaerobic digestion is still an emerging technology outside
the water treatment industry in this country, and it's clear
we are not yet making full use of its potential. It has a number
of real environmental benefits which we want to maximise, but to
do this we need to overcome certain barriers, like the chicken and
egg stand-off which can discourage investment in unfamiliar
technology, and the lack of understanding of its benefits or the
value of its outputs.
"Today's meeting clearly showed how much enthusiasm
there is across all sectors to make this work, and this is a high
priority for Government.
"Our £10 million demonstration programme will provide a
focus for joint action to make sure that the future development of
anaerobic digestion in England is as cost-effective and
environmentally beneficial as possible. We will be inviting bids
for the projects in the autumn."
The anaerobic digestion demonstration programme will be delivered
through a capital grant competition run by WRAP with assistance
from the Carbon Trust. It will seek to fund between three and six
projects that demonstrate the different benefits of anaerobic
digestion. Each successful project will demonstrate how
'state of the art' use of anaerobic digestion technology
can make a significant contribution to achieving one or more of
the following aims:
* maximising the cost effective production of biogas;
*
maximising the environmental benefits from the use of anaerobic
digestion and its products;
* maximising the potential of
anaerobic digestion to reduce the carbon footprint of the food
supply chain;
* maximising the opportunity for the injection
of biomethane into the gas grid; and
* maximising the
potential of anaerobic digestion to reduce the carbon footprint of
water treatment infrastructure.
Potential bidders are encouraged to attend a series of
stakeholder briefing events that will be held before inviting
bids. These will provide the opportunity to discuss and ask
questions about the programme.
Anyone interested in the anaerobic digestion demonstration
programme can register for more information at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/ETF.
Editor's notes
1. Hilary Benn announced at the NFU conference in February 2008
that Defra would make £10 million available from the Environmental
Transformation Fund for developing better use of anaerobic
digestion through a demonstrator programme.
2. The Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) is a new
initiative to bring forward the development of new low carbon
energy and energy efficiency technologies in the UK. The fund
formally began operation in April 2008 and is jointly administered
by Defra and the Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (BERR).
3. Funds within the domestic element of the Fund will total £400
million during the period 2008/09 to 2010/11.
4. Hilary Benn announced at the NFU Conference in February that
Defra would invest around £10 million from the Environmental
Transformation Fund to help build a number of commercial-scale
anaerobic digestion demonstration plants. The announcement by Phil
Woolas sets out how this funding will operate.
5. More information on the Environmental Transformation Fund is
available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/energy/fund/
6. More information about WRAP is available at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/
7. More information about the Carbon Trust is available at: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk
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