Renewables Obligation To Be treated with caution ESA
20 October 2011
In response to yesterday's announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that banding for the Renewables Obligation will be reduced for certain technologies, the Environmental Services Association (ESA) said the news should be treated with caution
ESA's director of policy, Matthew Farrow said: "The Renewables Roadmap recently published by DECC emphasises the great potential of Energy from Waste (EfW) in helping the UK hit its renewables targets. The proposals to reduce Renewables Obligation support for the main EfW technologies therefore need to be treated with caution.
"EfW markets are complex, for example the transport costs associated with getting AD digestate to market could be significant, while RDF exports could lead to competition on gate fees between UK EfW plants and continental ones, and the impact of factors like this on the appropriate level of RO support must be thought about. ESA will be looking at the detail of the consultation carefully."
On the National Policy Statement for Hazardous Waste infrastructure, Farrow said: "The hazardous waste market is highly specialised differing markedly from the markets for the 'general' commercial, industrial and domestic waste streams. Specific guidance on planning for hazardous waste management infrastructure is badly needed. ESA therefore welcomes the proposed Hazardous Waste National Policy Statement and we see it as a sound framework for the Infrastructure Planning Commission's (IPC) decision making process."
ESA also criticised Defra for the late publication of the guidance on the application of the waste hierarchy to hazardous waste. Under the EU Waste Framework Directive the waste hierarchy has to be given legal effect, and in England & Wales this provision came into force on 28 September. However Defra has so far only published guidance on how the hierarchy should be applied to non-hazardous waste.
Matthew Farrow said: "It is just not good enough that Defra has still not published the hazardous waste guidance nearly a month after the coming into force of the waste hierarchy provisions of the Directive. Hazardous waste producers and managers need the published guidance as soon as possible."
Renewables Obligation
The Renewables Obligation is currently the main financial mechanism by which the Government incentivises deployment of large-scale renewable electricity generation.
Banding reviews ensure that as market conditions and innovation within sectors change and evolve, renewables developers continue to receive the appropriate level of support necessary to maintain investments.
DECC's consultation invites comments on the Government's proposals for the levels of banded support available for renewable electricity generation under the Renewables Obligation (RO) for the period 2013-17.
This consultation applies to England and Wales only and closes on 12 January 2012.The Environmental Services Association (ESA) is the trade association representing the UK's waste management and secondary resources industry.
www.esauk.org
Darrel Moore
