Biogas producers will no longer need to pay for permits or waste handling controls to use fruit and vegetable by-products (crop residues) in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in England and Wales, the Environment Agency has confirmed.

Previously, the addition of even a small quantity of these by-products/ crop residues into the AD process (such as leaves and roots, or produce that is misshapen, bruised or undersized) would require operators to apply for a permit and implement the same waste handling controls as a commercial food waste AD plant. However the changes made to waste regulations will mean that this is no longer the case.

For some existing operators and developers these relaxing of the interpretation represent degression-busting improvements and is welcome news – however, for others may be not so.  On the positive side, crop residues represent a significant gas yield at a fraction of the cost (for now) of energy crops and have the added benefit of better sustainability scoring and use of otherwise discarded organics (wasted fertiliser etc).

Certainly in our experience here at BioWatt, increasing the agri-“waste” fraction of the feed-slate to a third adds 2-3 percentage points onto the IRR.

More thoughts to follow…

The following link will open the EA ruling as a PDF

EA_Briefing_note_-_crop_residues_used_as_feedstocks_in_AD_plants