In
order to receive renewable heat and power subsidies from government, projects must
demonstrate that they comply with strict sustainability criteria, which
requires them to calculate and report the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of their supply chain.
This can be particularly difficult to do with complex systems using multiple feedstocks and generating multiple outputs, such as anaerobic digestion (AD).
Shortly
after the Criteria were introduced, an AD plant operator came to us seeking assistance with calculating the GHG
impact of heat produced at their plant in order to comply with the
requirements under the UK's Renewable Heat Incentive. The operator had
previously struggled using Ofgem's Biomass and Biogas Carbon
Calculator (B2C2). They did not find the tool particularly user-friendly and had to
perform multiple runs due to the complex nature of their plant set-up. This
led to erroneous calculations and ultimately resulted in their RHI payments
being withheld.
At
the NNFCC we have developed our own dedicated Biomethane & Biogas Carbon Calculator that is explicitly designed to deal with complex anaerobic
digestion systems in a much more intuitive way. After using our tool with
our guidance, this client was able to demonstrate the carbon intensity
of heat produced from each of their feedstocks and re-submit their claims to Ofgem for RHI
payments to be released after demonstrating compliance. Our calculator also
allowed them to improve their own calculations, and to identify which of their
feedstocks were at high risk of not meeting sustainability criteria in the future. They have
subsequently changed feedstocks, providing them with even greater benefit.
Our
calculator also allowed the client to simultaneously calculate the carbon
intensity of electricity produced at their plant, which would have required an
entirely new set of runs using B2C2. With sustainability criteria due to be
introduced into the Feed-in Tariffs, our calculator is therefore likely to provide
further benefit to the client in the future.
The NNFCC has conducted carbon calculation and
sustainability compliance work not just for many individual projects, but also for major
bioenergy and biofuel producers. In addition to providing UK
scheme compliance tools, the NNFCC develops bespoke carbon calculators for
operators seeking to comply with EU voluntary sustainability certification
schemes such as International Sustainability & Carbon Certification.