Renewable fuels strategy is opportunity for farming

The government’s long-awaited Renewable Energy Strategy, published this week, provides significant opportunities and challenges for the agri-food sector.

The document forms a key part of the Department for Energy and Climate Change‘s 228-page Low Carbon Transition Plan and sets out how the UK government proposes to meet its ambitious target to source 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.

It predicts that more than 30% of electricity, 12% of heat and 10% of all transport energy could come from a range of renewable sources that include wind, biomass, biogas and solar. It recognises the significant greenhouse gas savings these fuels provide and highlights farming as having a key role in delivering them.

“DECC believes that all the bioenergy targets could be met through UK-sourced feedstocks and fuels,” said Greg Hilton, head of bioenergy at Bidwells Agribusiness. “Overall the strategy is to be welcomed. The challenge is now for the sector to translate these opportunities into profitable revenue streams.”

Mr Hilton said the introduction of a Renewable Heat Incentive in April 2011 was a welcome step forward as it would reward generators of heat from biomass, ground sources, anaerobic digestion and solar with a significant “credit” over and above the value of the heat.

In addition, the Renewables Obligation, which supports larger renewable electricity projects, including most anaerobic digestion and biomass combined heat and power projects, will be extended until 2037. “This will help in securing finance and investment for major bioenergy schemes,” said Mr Hilton.

A feed-in tariff for small-scale renewable electricity generators will be introduced in April 2010, although details are yet to be confirmed.

Other measures in the RES included an increase in the grant support for energy crops, to cover 50% of establishment costs instead of the current 40%, improvements to the planning process for renewable energy schemes and “quicker, smarter” connection to the national grid.

For the first time, farming and land use emissions were included in a government framework for tackling emissions. The Low Carbon Transition Plan said that farms, changes in land use and waste contributed to 11% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to find ways of emitting less while safeguarding our environment and producing food sustainably,” the report said. “The equivalent of around 37 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide is currently locked into natural reservoirs of carbon like soils and forests – we need to carefully manage our land to keep these stores locked away.”

The plan to 2020 will cut emissions from farming and waste by 6% on 2008 levels through:

• Encouraging farmers to take action themselves to reduce emissions to at least 6% lower than currently predicted by 2020, through more efficient use of fertiliser, and better management of livestock and manure
  
• Support for anaerobic digestion
  
• Reducing the waste sent to landfill, and better capture of landfill emissions
  
• Encourage private funding for woodland creation