The market for building Anaerobic Digestion plants could be at risk from government alterations to the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) adjustments to the FiT has the potential to kill off popular sectors of the renewables industry, according to the Renewable Energy Association (REA).

A DECC consultation on removing the preliminary accreditation from the FiT has been held.

The REA states the proposals will take away the certainty of knowing what tariff a renewable project will eventually get.


Currently, projects have the guarantee of getting the existing tariff if they pre-accredit.

The changes will mean projects will only qualify for the tariff at project completion, meaning they will have to gamble on what the eventual tariff will be.

Developers with long lead times, such as Anaerobic Digestion, will struggle to find finance with the introduction of this new risk, says the REA.

It added the proposals will not just slow the deployment of renewables but will in some cases, kill of sectors entirely.

Head of Biogas, Dr Kiara Zennaro (REA) said: "DECC needs to urgently acknowledge that removing FIT pre-accreditation and tariff guarantees will be seriously detrimental to the AD sector. "It will considerably increase the uncertainty of tariffs due to degression and make it impossible for investors to fund development and construction. In other words, it will kill deployment, as opposed to just slow it down."

(LM)