The AD Market Report, published at UK AD and Biogas 2016, shows that the UK now has 617MW of biogas capacity. This amount is enough to power 800,000 homes.
However, although more biogas energy is being produced growth in the industry has slowed. Also it will slow even more over the next four years due to government policy decision and investment uncertainty.
Recent government decisions have led to a reduction in the anaereobic digestion (AD) energy generation capacity that ABDA expects to be installed by winter 2018 by 250MW (megawatts).
Small scale farm AD has been reduced to a handful of plants being constructed per year. This is going ahead despite the Committee on Climate Change recommending that it should be used to meet carbon budgets. The government is currently on track to closing down renewable electricity incentives to new AD applications in 2018.
Depending on final decisions made by the government this autumn, the Renewable Heat Incentive is expected to fund deployment of 10-20 new biomethane to grid plants from 2017, which is a slight decrease from 2015 and 2016.
ABDA Market Report shows there are still more than 400 plants with planning permission granted or applied for.
A version of this story first appeared on WWTonline.