Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much subsidy has been given to (a) power generation by biomass in the UK and (b) domestic combustion of biomass in the UK in the last three years for which figures are available.

The Renewables Obligation is currently the main financial mechanism by which the Government incentivises the deployment of large-scale renewable electricity generation in the UK. The table below gives figures for the amount of support biomass projects received in the last 3 years for which data is available. These are in nominal prices:

Support for small-scale (<5MW) renewables in Great Britain, including Anaerobic Digestion (AD), is also available under the Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme. However, FIT spend data are not collected disaggregated by technology.

Biomass technologies include: AD, biomass co-firing, biomass conversions, dedicated biomass, sewage gas, landfill gas and advanced conversion technologies. These include Combined Heat and Power (CHP) schemes.

Total spend under the RO is calculated as the number of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) redeemed by suppliers for that RO year multiplied by the value of a ROC in that year. ROCs redeemed data can be found at: https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0 (see ‘Compliance Certificates Reports’). The ROC value is calculated by the overall RO spend for that year divided by the total number of ROCs redeemed by suppliers. Overall RO spend is calculated by multiplying the obligation by the buy-out price, both of which can be found in each year’s RO annual report or obligation notice, available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/renewables-obligation-ro

Domestic combustion of biomass in the UK is currently supported by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), but was previously covered by the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) until April 2014. The table below gives figures for the amount of subsidy biomass boilers received in the last 3 years: