AD & Bioresources News Autumn 2018 by lunatrix

AD&BIORESOURCES News

THE UK ANAEROBIC DIGESTION & BIORESOURCES TRADE ASSOCIATIONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Quarterly MAGAZINE adbioresources.org

Issue 41 Autumn 2018

TRIUMPHS AT EXPO 2018

UK Government, EU and UN recognise environmental services of AD

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE FUTURE OF FEEDSTOCK

GUIDE TO GRID-READY BIOMETHANE

industry CHALLENGE to BUSINESS RATE RISE

EXPERT ADVICE ON REFINANCING YOUR AD PLANT www.adbioresources.org

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Foreword AD’s role will be clearer after recess

Inside this issue > Foreword:

View from the Top:

Policy News:

5-7

Feature: Sustainability and the future of feedstocks:

8-14

ADBA News:

15-16

Special report: UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 and AD & Biogas Industry Awards:

17-32

Overview:

Keynote address:

Food Waste Workshops:

WBA Members’ Meeting:

Farmers’ Breakfast Briefing:

R&D Hub:

AD&Biogas Industry Awards 2018:

25-28

UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 Highlights:

29-31

Advice Clinic: Refinancing:

33-34

R&I Update:

Tech Focus: Delivering grid-ready biomethane:

36-39

Members’ News:

40-42

Best Practice: Members’ Matters:

43 44-46

Editorial: To be considered for inclusion in a future issue, contact jon.hughes@adbioresources.org

Jon Harrison, ADBA External Affairs Manager

hile the industry has celebrated the passing of the RHI regulations, ADBA has been turning its focus to what comes next; how do we ensure support for the AD industry in the future, both in securing a framework of support in what replaces the RHI, and providing the feedstock needed to run these plants? Regarding feedstock, there has been positive progress in our drive to promote mandatory separate food waste collections in England. Both the Committee on Climate Change and the National Infrastructure Commission have called for these collections to be in place by the mid 2020s, cementing the legal requirements outlined the EU’s Circular Economy Package. The government will now have to respond to both these reports. We are also pushing strongly for a definitive commitment, backed up with central government funding for local authorities, in the forthcoming Resource and Waste Strategy. As ever, funding is the key, and we have been engaging closely with senior advisors at the Treasury to demonstrate the cost-benefit of central government funding for separate food waste collections. We’re also working on some exciting engagement with the Department for Business, which we will hopefully be able to announce soon. Meanwhile, the Environmental Audit Committee has published its analysis of DEFRA’s 25 Year Plan for the Environment – a major piece of work that sets out how Ministers intend to restore and recover the countryside. The report is pretty critical, calling for far more detail on targets, implementation and funding before the Plan is converted into legislation – critical for promoting AD as part of natural capital, the EAC calls for a robust statutory framework to define ‘environmental net gain’ and legally binding environmental targets. ADBA has fed into this document, as well as the Agriculture White Paper, which also considers payments for ‘public goods’, and will continue to engage to ensure AD is recognised as a key deliverer of environmental public goods. In the autumn we will see progress on the new Agriculture Bill, the Resource and Waste Strategy and of course, the final stage of the Brexit negotiations.

AD&Bioresources News FEATURES Features planned for Issue 42 (Winter) include: • Feature: Digestate, the latest innovations & creating a market • T ech Focus: Pumps & Mixers •A DBA National Conference Preview Copy deadline: 8 October

Sponsorship and advertising: T +44 (0)203 176 4414 E sales@adbioresources.org

adbioresources.org

Welcome to the Autumn edition of AD&Bioresources News, the first to be edited by me since taking over the reins from former Managing Editor Kirsty Sharpe and News Editor Kate O’Reilly of Glohouse; a tough act to follow. The magazine was created by Kirsty and over the years Glohouse has performed an admirable service to ADBA, which in our latest readership survey you rightly rated highly. I will endeavour to maintain the high standards they set. AD&Bioresources News is the foremost AD forum, reaching over 7,000 readers, including industry leaders and decision-makers, policy formers in both national and local government, and across academia. It must therefore deliver accurate, accessible and authoritative content to highlight the potential of AD as an industry-led solution to a number of pressing environmental issues. This also requires us to face up to the challenges we confront as we seek to resolve them. In the coming weeks I will be preparing a forward features list for 2019, which happens to be the 10th anniversary year of ADBA; what a long way we have come. I am keen to hear what issues you would like to see the magazine address, so please get in touch. AD&Bioresources News is the public face of your organisation. You can help me ensure your industry is presented in the best light. Please keep in touch, E: jon.hughes@adbioresources.org

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

View from the Top Seizing new opportunities

By Charlotte Morton, ADBA’s Chief Executive

ne of the key take-aways from those who attended UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 was a long-overdue but clear sense of optimism about the future of anaerobic digestion (AD) in the UK. As I noted in my opening remarks at the show, there are three key factors driving this optimism. The first is that we have finally seen changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in terms of higher tariffs and the introduction of vital tariff guarantees. This is set to stimulate the development of 40-50 new biomethane projects with an accompanying £150-£300 million of investment. Second, with the European Union’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) coming into force in July and due to be incorporated into national law within two years (when the UK is expected to still be in its Brexit transition period), we are fully expecting the UK government to adopt the target for separate biowaste collections by December 2023. We’re expecting a commitment to introducing mandatory separate food waste collections in the form of the Consistency Framework in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ upcoming Resources & Waste Strategy, and Campbell Keir, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at the Department for International Trade, confirmed this at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018. Third, there is considerable investment coming into the AD sector as part of an industry consolidation that involves refinancing and upgrading existing AD plants to improve their performance. This is expected to require £300m of operational expenditure across the industry per annum by 2020.

The UK AD industry:

Opportunities

• Food waste collections to be introduced following the adoption of the Circular Economy Package and the Resources and Waste Strategy • Growing recognition of the importance of the sector within the wider waste management debate • Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) tariffs increased

The optimism stemming from these three developments is welcome and important for investor confidence in the AD industry and for the supply chain, but in order for these to be more than short-term boosts, it is crucial for government to finally act and put in place long-term support for AD. Failing to do so will represent an enormous missed opportunity and, more importantly, make it impossible for the government to meet a range of policy goals, from meeting its Carbon Budgets across multiple sectors through to supporting farmers post CAP and reducing emissions from waste. Does the UK really want to return to being the ‘dirty man’ of Europe?

Interestingly, calls for urgent action are now coming from beyond the AD industry. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has challenged government to set out a framework for post-RHI support by the end of this year, having previously consistently referred to biomethane as a ‘low-regret option’ for decarbonising the gas grid. The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has also recently joined the CCC’s calls for separate food waste collections for all households and businesses by 2025 to enable the production of biogas. These many voices calling for government action indicate a clear direction of travel in terms of wider recognition of the many benefits of AD, but as an industry we can’t wait for government policy to change by itself. We need to wake the government up to the full benefits of AD and make it realise that it cannot meet its policy goals without it. We’ve recently seen how ministers are prepared to cut off support for renewable electricity through ending the Feed-In Tariff, and we can’t afford for the same thing to happen with renewable heat. In the meantime, the AD sector needs to hold its nerve and keep faith in the need for AD in the UK and globally, where it has the potential to be a £1tn industry and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. It’s also vital that we continue to improve AD plant performance, and initiatives like the AD Certification Scheme, which has recently seen its first English plant certified following the certification of a Northern Irish plant in January, are vital for this. By maximising our performance, we make the case for AD-friendly policy and regulation even stronger.

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Policy News Industry to challenge rising business rates burden Business rates are now a real burden for the AD industry, with charges escalating year on year. In nearly all cases, the agricultural exemptions enjoyed by the farming community are simply not applicable to UK operators of on-farm anaerobic digesters. Business ratepayers in England have, so far, benefitted from a generous relief scheme under the government’s transitional rates relief scheme. But many AD operators will soon be coming out of this scheme and for the first time facing the full impact of the recent rates revaluation. This will mean high levels of charges akin to those now levied on AD operators in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ADBA is very concerned about the impact this tax is now having across the industry. We are working with a leading rating practitioner and looking to bring the AD industry together to explore how best to challenge the business rates authorities. We realise that the tax has to be paid – but it must

be fair and reasonable, have regard to a plant’s ability to pay and fully reflect the challenges of running an AD plant. Challenging the methodology used by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to arrive at their individual business rates assessments is likely to be a lengthy process, and may involve considerable costs. It is most important that the industry speaks with one voice putting forward a test case in the form of a class action. Individual settlements reached with the VOA could very well undermine our efforts; we would ask that members contact us before they lodge any formal applications with the rates authorities. We are confident that working together, our concerted action will give us a good opportunity to reset business rate charges to more realistic and affordable levels, benefitting the whole industry for the life of the plant. If you have questions about business rates or are looking to challenge your rateable value, please get in touch with us. In the first instance, contact thom.koller@adbioresources.org

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY PROPOSES STRICTER PERMIT CONDITIONS The Environment Agency (EA) is currently running a call for evidence on proposals to change permitting for the biowaste sector, including AD. The call for evidence is open and wide-ranging, with evidence sought on a number of topics. In its response, ADBA will be making the point that the criteria of the AD Certification Scheme (ADCS) significantly overlap with the EA’s proposals. We will urge the EA to use the ADCS as a method of assessing AD plant requirements and to reward those operators certified under the scheme. You can find out more about the EA’s proposals here: https://bit.ly/2AxCDti The call for evidence is open until the 20th September; ADBA members are invited to contribute their thoughts to help inform ADBA’s response. For more information and to contribute, please contact ollie.more@adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Policy News CHANGES TO SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY SECTOR The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has confirmed in a new consultation that the Feed-In Tariff (FIT), which provides payment for the generation of electricity from renewable sources, will close in March 2019. BEIS has also confirmed that there will be no new low-carbon electricity levies before 2025.

GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES ‘ROAD TO ZERO’ TRANSPORT STRATEGY The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched its ‘Road to Zero’ Strategy, which sets out how the government intends to reduce emissions from the vehicles already on the UK’s roads and implement new measures to drive the uptake of zero-emission cars, vans and trucks. The strategy includes proposals to: • Introduce a new voluntary, industry-supported commitment to reduce HGV greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2025, from 2015 levels; • Work with industry to develop an ultra-low-emission standard for trucks; • Undertake further emissions testing of the latest natural gas HGVs, to gather evidence that will inform decisions on future government policy and support for natural gas as a potential near-term, loweremission fuel for HGVs.

AD combined heat and power (CHP) under the FIT has been vital in helping to decarbonise the farming sector, and with the government no longer providing direct support for the generation of renewable electricity, on-farm AD will struggle to deliver its numerous non-energy benefits. This also puts at severe risk the more than 300 AD CHP plants currently in the planning pipeline. You can read ADBA’s full response to the FIT news here: http://bit.ly/2uJneRd The consultation runs until 13th September. BEIS will then publish its decision following consideration of the responses received and aim to implement any administrative changes by 1st April 2019. See Emiliano’s blog on the FIT closure consultation here: http://bit.ly/2LuoC3P Over the summer BEIS also ran a call for evidence on the future role for smallscale low-carbon electricity generation. At the heart of the consultation was the question of how much deployment of small-scale low-carbon generation will occur without government intervention. See more in Thom’s blog here: http://bit.ly/2mAuNoT Finally, BEIS has announced that a further Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction will take place in 2019. Such support is important to low-carbon electricity generation and ADBA is lobbying to ensure that AD will not be excluded in this future CfD round. For more information on the FIT or CfD or to input into ADBA’s responses to the consultation and call for evidence, contact thom.koller@adbioresources.org

The strategy also highlights the £48m ultra-low-emission bus scheme funding round designed to accelerate uptake and deployment of supporting infrastructure. To support the government’s ongoing work on gas and biomethane fuels, a series of vehicle tests are being undertaken between now and summer 2019. Six tests are due to be completed by August 2018 and the results from these trials will shape DfT’s recommendations to HM Treasury, which is looking into duty rates for alternative fuels ahead of the Budget in the autumn. Over the coming months ADBA will be making a case to HM Treasury for keeping or improving the duty differentials. In other transport news, the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) has been provisionally agreed following the triologue negotiations between the different European Union institutions. The directive includes a renewables target for transport and sub-targets for advanced biofuels, crop-based biofuels and waste-based biofuels. The provisions of the new RED can broadly be met with existing UK policies, with UK targets thought to be more ambitious than those of the EU following the reforms to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation that came into effect in April this year. For more information on biomethane for transport, contact thom.koller@adbioresources.org

EU CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE COMES INTO FORCE The European Union Circular Economy Package (CEP), which includes a target for all Member States to introduce separate biowaste collections (including food waste) by December 2023, has now come into force. As of 4th July 2018, EU Member States have two years to transpose the targets in the package into national law. With the UK due to still be in its Brexit transition period in July 2020, ADBA is expecting the UK government to adopt the targets in the CEP, including that for separate biowaste collections, and is expecting confirmation of this in line with the Consistency Framework in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy. ADBA’s calls for mandatory food waste collections in England to emulate

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

the example set by the devolved nations have been echoed by the Committee on Climate Change, which in June described recycling inedible food waste as a ‘simple, low-cost option’ for reducing emissions and called for mandatory separate collections by 2025. In July the National Infrastructure Commission also called for the same target. ADBA has also submitted evidence to Defra to strengthen the case for separate food waste collections and to inform the government's Resources & Waste Strategy. For more information on food waste recycling, speak to emiliano.lewis@adbioresources.org

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Policy News 49 BIOMETHANE APPLICATIONS FOR RHI TARIFF GUARANTEES IN MAY, JUNE AND JULY The energy regulator, Ofgem, has confirmed that there have now been 79 applications for Tariff Guarantees under the new Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, 49 of which are for biomethane projects. At the time of writing, 18 of these applications have been issued Provisional Tariff Guarantee Notices and applicants are working to provide financial close evidence within the specified three week period. Decisions on the remaining applications are due imminently, though Ofgem has not given a fixed timetable for communication of final decisions. Ofgem has also confirmed that the estimated committed spend for Tariff Guarantees up to 2020-21 has reduced, meaning new projects can still join the scheme and apply for a Tariff Guarantee. If estimated spend moves above the expenditure threshold for biomethane/large biogas and growth during the previous quarter is more than 50 per cent of the predicted rate of increase, there will be a degression of tariff rates on the 1st October. At time of writing, this depends on whether ÂŁ39m of biomethane Tariff Guarantees are awarded in time to be counted in estimated spend before the end of July. As Ofgem is continuing to delay the processing of Tariff Guarantee applications, the risk of degression in October is looking lower.

Ofgem moved to new offices at 10 South Colonade, Canary Wharf, London E14, in April

With the RHI due to close in 2021, ADBA has been working with members and other industry stakeholders to push the government to put in place a replacement for the scheme so that generation of low-carbon heat continues to receive government support into the 2020s. ADBA strongly believes that

support for biomethane is crucial to government being able to meet its Carbon Budget targets for heat decarbonisation, a view shared by the Committee on Climate Change and many others. For more information on the RHI, contact thom.koller@adbioresources.org

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Feedstock

Sustainability and the future of feedstocks Under new sustainability criteria, both the RHI and FIT schemes have restrictions on the percentage of crop feedstock for which operators can claim government support - 50% of gas yield. Jon Hughes explores what this means for the industry and how, in some respects, the policy is self-defeating

hen the long-awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) reforms were enacted on 22nd May, they gave the AD industry a much-needed confidence boost, evidenced by the fact that 79 applications to receive the new tariffs were made in the weeks immediately following – the majority, 49, seeking to capitalise on the incentive to produce heat. There was no such surge of interest when the tariffs for the two smaller AD capacity bands of the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) were marginally raised on the 1st April 2017. Tariffs on offer back then ranged from 2.2 p/kWh for the largest capacity band (500-5000 kW) to 6.2 p/kWh for the smallest capacity band (0-250kW). There have been just 19 applications to receive the tariff since then, and the scheme remained undersubscribed when the government announced in early August 2018 that the scheme will close on 31st March, 2019. Taken together, however, the sustainability criteria underpinning both the FIT and RHI regimes, in seeking to close the energy and material loop, consolidate the circular economy as a political imperative, especially if the government is to meet its carbon reduction targets. Coupled with the fact that, Brexit or no, European Union (EU) reforms will further embed these principles, the AD industry has been given a clear direction of travel.

Incentivising the use of biowastes

Both schemes have restrictions on the percentage of crop feedstock for which operators can claim 8

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

government support – 50 per cent of gas yield. This affects the feedstock mix that AD operators can use and for new operators will inform plant design. It will also impact those who are expanding output and receiving RHI payments based on the preceding regime, which came into effect in 2013. Any expanded output from these operations will have to deliver on the sustainability criteria, although tariffs will be paid at the rate applicable when the plant was originally accredited. Crop feedstocks are not being outlawed in the UK; they simply will not attract the tariffs being offered under RHI to operators who meet the sustainability criteria, running to 5.60p/kWh (Tier 1) under the 2018 amendments (at time of writing). “The government wants to ensure it gets the biggest possible carbon saving for its investment, and it achieves that by incentivising the use of biodegradable wastes over Dr Thom Koller energy crops as feedstock,” said Dr Thom Koller, Senior Policy Manager at ADBA. “Concern over carbon cost-effectiveness (CCE) is something the government and AD industry are working on both independently and together.” Sustainability targets lie at the heart of the new criteria. In its report ‘Low-carbon Heating of Homes and Businesses and the Renewable Heat Incentive’, the National Audit Office says the cost of abating one tonne of CO2 using crops as feedstock is over five times that of using primarily wastes; £500/tCO2e compared to £92/tCO2e. www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

The report states, “Our base case assumes a feedstock mix of 65 per cent food waste and sewage, 35 per cent agricultural (crop). Carbon cost-effectiveness estimates for biomethane and biogas plants are highly sensitive to changes in feedstock mix. Where only crops are used in these plants, we estimate carbon cost-effectiveness worsens to more than £500 per tonne.” While the government’s figure for the CCE of energy crops is disputed as being too high by both ADBA and bioeconomy consultants NNFCC, amongst others, the principle is correct. This is primarily because it inherently recognises the plethora of environmental services waste feedstocks deliver outside of their core purpose; for example, utilising cow manure feedstock to make biogas abates the CO2 from that waste as well. To attract the maximum available support under both the FIT and RHI schemes, operators are required to show that 50 per cent of the total biogas yield is derived from a predominantly waste feedstock. “Because energy crops tend to deliver a higher yield, this will require a greater proportion of waste feedstock to achieve,” said Dr Koller. Tariffs are accordingly set on a sliding scale. Where heat and electricity generated from biogas not derived from feedstocks classified as wastes and/or residues exceeds 50 per cent of the total biogas yield (by energy content), the installation will not be entitled to receive the full incentive payment that year for the proportion in excess of 50 per cent. For example, if, in an installation’s

Feedstock Emissions targets are set to rise further

Curds and whey; around 80 per cent of the volume of milk used to make cheese remains as whey

reporting year, 70 per cent of the biogas yield (by energy content) is derived from feedstocks other than wastes and/or residues, the installation will only be entitled to 80 per cent of that year’s payments. This is because the portion from nonwastes and residues exceeds the 50 per cent limit by 20 per cent. Furthermore, the sustainability criteria demand that solid biomass for biogas/biomethane has to achieve 60 per cent savings compared to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the fossil heat average; this equates to lifecycle emissions of less than or equal to 125.28 kg CO2e per MWh or 34.8 g CO2eq/MJ of biomass heat generated.

The UK target is currently the most stringent in Europe, although that is about to change under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II). This is set to introduce even more ambitious sustainability targets including an overall renewables target of 32 per cent by 2030, with a review clause for 2023 included, where the target can only be increased. RED II builds on the original 20 per cent by 2020 target and specifically encompasses biomass feedstock, to “improve the sustainability of the use of bioenergy”. Under RED II, which has been passed by the EU but awaits being put on the statute book, GHG targets will require between a 70 per cent (for electricity) and 80 per cent (for heat) cut in emissions against the Fossil Fuel Comparator. For example, AD operators delivering biogas for heat with plants coming on stream from 2021 will have to reduce their CO2eq/MJ by 70 per cent against the fossil fuel comparator natural gas; this rises to 80 per cent for AD plants coming on stream from 2026. This means the maximum permitted emissions will fall from the EU’s current permitted level of 80 gCO2eq/MJ to 24 gCO2eq/MJ and 16 gCO2eq/MJ by 2021 and 2026 respectively.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Whatever the outcome of Brexit negotiations, RED II is expected to be adopted by the UK. According to Dr Koller, “With the RED negotiations completing faster than initially expected and set to become European law imminently (August) the changes are expected to come into effect in the UK by 2021 at the latest. This is firmly within the 'transition period' where (at the time of writing) the UK would continue to be bound by European law. Even if the UK is not legally bound, the government may opt-in to different or all RED II specifications to ease trade.” Having already committed to adopt the wideranging targets contained in the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP), it is highly likely the UK government will also adopt the RED II proposals. The CEP is binding on all EU Member States and became law on 4th July 2018 – which includes the UK regardless of Brexit - with Member States having two years to transcribe it into their own national laws. The CEP includes a raft of measures that will propel the AD industry to the forefront of the fight against climate change and help make the UK economy a more circular one. The critical Continued>>

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Feedstock piece of the legislation commits Member States to new targets of 65 per cent recycling of municipal waste by 2035 and separate biowaste (including food waste) collections by December 2023. At UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018, Campbell Keir, Director of Energy and Infrastructure at the Department for International Trade, said that the UK government has committed to adopting the CEP (see page 18), and ADBA is expecting confirmation of this in the government’s forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy. Under the CEP, the requirement for separate collection of waste is strengthened and the test as to whether separate collection is ‘technically, environmentally Proflo; the syrup or economically practical’ arises from the production of (TEEP) is to be made tougher. ethanol Member States will have to report to the European Commission on implementation of this by the end of 2021 and explain in detail any TEEP derogations they are seeking. The effect of these changes should be to see England start to catch up with the rest of the UK in terms of separate food waste collection from households and commercial properties. Currently almost half of English local authorities don’t collect household food waste at all, and only 35% collect it separately - and the picture for businesses is no better.

consequences that are counterproductive to achieving the stated policy aim.

The “challenging task” facing AD operators

In light of the shift in emphasis under the RHI and FIT schemes, the key issue for AD operators now is to identify a suitable and consistent supply of waste-derived feedstock, to both maximise income and ensure plants run to capacity while meeting sustainability obligations. Under the sustainability criteria, RHI applicants are required to detail what feedstocks they will use and where these come from - road miles are part of the equation to determine the CCE of feedstocks - and eventual gas output is subject to continuous reporting to monitor compliance. As a consequence there has been a surge in interest from operators wanting to identify steady streams of waste, residue or by-products. “Substantial numbers of AD developers have been getting in touch to enquire about long-term waste feedstock supply for new sites going through the planning and pre-accreditation process,” said Chris Rose, AD Technical Specialist with Amur, an AD feedstock and service provider that sits within the AB Agri and wider Associated British Foods Group. Amur owns and operates a 3 MWe food waste digester and also supplies over 100 AD plants across the UK with feedstock and other services.

Mr Rose said there is already an evident change in the nature of those enquiries. “The emphasis has shifted from just having a ‘waste’ supply available at any gate fee or cost to making sure that the quality and consistency of the feedstock is good enough to achieve the gas outputs required to reach capacity at AD sites,” he said. “This has resulted in AD operators choosing to pay an increased premium for higher gas yielding materials as, although they may no longer be receiving a gate fee, they are getting increased revenues. They are also finding themselves better off due to lower processing and digestive recycling costs.” Finding such a supply of waste-derived feedstock is, for new operators in particular, a “challenging task”, Mr Rose added. While there are a large number of options available to new operators - ‘waste’ can be procured in the traditional ways through local authorities and local food manufacturers - these need to pay careful consideration to the eligibility of individual feedstocks for the FIT and RHI schemes. Amur and its parent group AB Agri has been at the centre of a case that clearly exemplifies the complexity of identifying feedstocks that comply with the wastederived feedstock classification of the RHI and FIT sustainability criteria. The feedstock in question is Proflo, 20 per cent dry matter syrup arising from the production of ethanol at Vivergo Fuels, with the liquid element all water, which does not contribute to biogas production. As an animal feed Proflo is considered as a coproduct; a consequence of ethanol production. However, as an AD feedstock it is considered a 'waste or residue'. How a product is classified

However, under the CEP, by 2030 there should be no landfill of material suitable for recycling or recovery and the amount of municipal waste going to landfill must be less than 10 per cent of the total arising by 2035. A new ban on incineration of separately collected recoverable waste will also be introduced. Furthermore, the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission report on 10th July concluded that the UK and England should be incinerating less and recycling more. It recommended the government establishes separate food waste collections for households and business by 2025 and that the collected resource goes to AD. These changes would see a significant increase in the demand for facilities to process this increased supply of feedstock, which in turn would lead to a boom for the AD industry. While there is much to be welcomed in the raft of sustainability measures and recommendations currently on the table, the RHI and FIT regimes are proving to be something of a blunt tool, with many unintended 10

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

The data indicate that using farmed sugar kelp as a feedstock for AD delivers a good specific methane yield www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Feedstock

However, after carrying out several different material tests and after extensive discussions with Ofgem, Proflo was accepted by Ofgem as being eligible for the RHI as a suspended solid, and the regulator issued a directive in late July 2018 advising operators of the decision.

Industry Technical liaison group needed

AB Agri’s New Product and Development Manager Richard Stark, was among those who made the case for Proflo to Ofgem, says, “A lesson from this is that where AD operators are planning to use unusual feedstocks they must allow time and resource to obtain approval. Going forward, feedstock classification is likely to be increasingly important as new plants require 50 per cent of the biogas to come from wastes or residues. In order to facilitate this, an industry technical liaison group could work with Ofgem to provide industry

insight into materials and help facilitate the classification process.” Tim Elsome, General Manager of FM BioEnergy, echoes that call. FM BioEnergy is part of the ForFarmersEU agribusiness, which purchases a large volume of feed materials and coproducts from agricultural sources, brewers and distillers, and the food and drink industry for use in the AD sector. “We need something like a technical liaison group to sort this out,” he says. “There’s no black and white in waste classification, it’s all grey areas.” Elsome previously took up the case of whey with Ofgem. Like Proflo it fell foul of the liquid rule, but there was also another dimension: to cheesemakers, whey is considered a waste, with around 80 per cent of the volume of milk used to make cheese remaining as whey. This has ordinarily been disposed of by being dumped

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

is first determined by the owner, who must then seek the agreement of the regulator. The feedstock classification process under the RHI also requires the physical form of feedstock to be stated - i.e., liquid or solid - mainly to ensure that non-waste liquids such as palm oil are ineligible. Proflo Syrup was deemed to fall foul of that rule.

This pisten bully seen in action at the RSPB’s Ham Wall, collecting ‘conservation biomass’ for AD.

in rivers or sprayed onto land. AD operators, however, see it is a valuable resource and byproduct of the cheese-making process. Under RED a by-product should not be classified as waste “if the further use of the material is a certainty and not a mere possibility and if it can be used again without any further processing and as part of the continuing process of production”. If whey was classed as waste, AD operators would Continued>>

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Feedstock Peakhill Associates has developed a dedicated machine to capture verge grass biomass

judgement as each ruling is particular to each set of circumstances. The implications of the RHI and FIT regimes will not be felt by AD operators alone - they will also have a profound impact on suppliers, such as food and drink manufacturing companies. As Tim Elsome observes, “All industry for the past 15 years has been trying to get up the waste hierarchy. We work with major drinks manufacturers and they don’t want to suddenly be seen to be producing 50,000 tonnes of “waste” per annum – it looks bad for them and their corporate social responsibility reporting.” The need for a technical working group couldn’t be clearer, and it is something ADBA is lobbying for with the regulators. Such an entity will be particularly important to the government if it is to both encourage wider industry to play an active role in the circular economy and achieve its carbon targets by greening the gas grid and the transport and farming sectors.

have to spend considerable time and expense securing the relevant licensing and permitting necessary for its use from the Environment Agency (EA). Responsibility for waste classification is shared between Ofgem and the EA, and while they both work off the same definition, they don’t always draw the same conclusion, as they look at applications from different perspectives. Ofgem is now primarily concerned with CCE and sustainability, while the EA focuses on protection of the environment and safeguarding against hazardous materials entering the food chain. Perhaps tellingly, details of how waste-derived feedstocks are to be defined and categorised are not provided in either the RHI or FIT policy guidance. Indeed, in the executive summary of Ofgem's FIT Guidance on Sustainability Criteria and Feedstock Restrictions (version 2), the regulator advises operators to consult an expert. “Despite the opportunity to introduce pragmatism to feedstock classification in AD, the new guidance simply, and unhelpfully, replicates the EU’s RED definitions,” observes ADBA’s Environment & Regulation Manager Jessica Allan. To assist operators, the EA has resuscitated its Definition of Waste (DOW) Panel, which was suspended in 2016 as unsustainable as a free service. To obtain an assessment, operators now face the prospect of paying an interim fee of £750, with a full assessment being charged at the rate of £125 an hour. ADBA is lobbying the EA to reconsider these charges. While recognising and supporting the need for environmental regulators to have 12

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

sufficient resources to carry out regulatory duties and ensure the environment is protected, ADBA is concerned at the proposed magnitude of the increase. Rather than enhance protection of the environment, the proposed charges could have the unintended consequence of driving people out of the AD industry. ADBA has told the EA, “AD operators are already under increased financial pressure, and even small cost increases will result in greater strain and could have a detrimental impact – should the proposals lead to reduced enthusiasm in investing in the industry or to the greater limitation of operators’ ability to invest in their operations, then it could be detrimental to the environment.” Alternatively, operators can also use the EA’s free self-assessment tool - IsItWaste - to help determine whether material is waste or not. However, the answer will only reflect the information input, which means it stands and falls by the digital maxim ’single-input, single-output’ or the more industrial ‘shit in, shit out’. Ultimately, both the DOW Panel and IsItWaste tool can only provide operators with reassurance and not a definitive ruling that will automatically be accepted by Ofgem. Jo Chapman, who used to work at the EA and Shropshire Biogas and is now an Independent Consultant and Associate with H&C Consulting, presented the whey case to Ofgem. “Waste is a concept,” she says. “It’s not about the material itself but how it’s derived and your contention. The legislation is complicated.” And therein lies the problem: each material has to be looked at on this conceptual basis on a product-byproduct basis. The EA does not publish letters of www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

New feedstocks and technology

The AD industry is constantly identifying innovative new feedstock sources as advances in operational skills and technology to enable operators to use what were previously ‘indigestible’ feedstocks. Within the AD industry, studies are currently underway to capture what on the face of it is waste biomass i.e. biomass that has previously been allowed to simply rot away. Dr Nick Cheffins of Peakhill Associates has been pioneering verge grass to biomass, with two studies currently underway in Lincolnshire. Results are pending on the two-year study but Dr Cheffins says, “It feels very good at the moment; the data are pointing in the right direction. I believe this is going to be a significant resource for the AD industry and very important going forward.” As a typical rural county, Lincolnshire has approximately 8,750 km (5,500 miles) of roads of which 6,173 km are largely bounded by grass verges. The majority of these verges are within the public highway and Lincolnshire County Council, as the local highway authority, is required to keep them in a safe and unobstructed condition. Ordinarily it would do this using a “cut and leave” flail mowing programme, meaning the biomass is left to rot where it falls. In 2015 Dr Cheffins proposed capturing the road verge biomass as an AD feedstock. In theory, based on previous trials in the UK and Europe, the low-input, high-diversity biomass resource available from Lincolnshire verges could annually

Feedstock provide sufficient electricity for 4,500 homes or gas for 1,100 homes. The system has the potential to be replicated across the over 80 essentially rural counties in England and of course the more rural Wales and Scotland. Dr Cheffins and Peakhill have even developed a dedicated verge-grass-to-biomass harvester for collection of the material. Despite it previously being left to rot on the roadside, the next step is for verge biomass to secure a waste classification, as it currently does not have a code. This is something Dr Cheffins fears could accrue sizeable costs. In a similar vein, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has been studying the viability of conservation biomass, a by-product of conservation management, as a feedstock for AD. Areas managed for biodiversity produce a variety of summer cut materials, including soft rush, reed sweet-grass and fen vegetation. Trials and analysis undertaken to date suggest that this material has potential to be a significant AD feedstock. The analysis of these materials has presented interesting results, with total methane content ranging from 52.4 per cent to 54.6 per cent, total gas yields from 117 m3/tonne to 185 m3/tonne, and moisture content from 64.7 per cent to 73.4 per cent.

Another long-term study currently in the numbercrunching phase is Seagas, which is jointly funded by Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This has been assessing the viability – both technical and financial – of farming sugar kelp seaweed for bioenergy production through AD. Upon launch, the project positioned itself at the heart of the “food for fuel” debate, stating, “AD processes traditionally use crops such as maize and beet as well as biomass wastes from agriculture and food processing/consumption. However, as the value of waste resources increase and the demand on productive land for food production increases, we will need to explore other sources of biomass for bioenergy production.” Seaweeds have high productivity, fast growth rates and high polysaccharide content, all of which are important qualities for biofuel biomass. Despite these benefits, only one per cent of the world’s seaweed is farmed in Europe, with Asia responsible for 96.6% of global seaweed production. The study phase of the project aimed to show a viable supply chain for farming and storage of seaweed in the UK, initially for the production of biomethane through AD.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

“The data indicate that using farmed Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp) as a feedstock for AD delivers a good specific methane yield,” said Michelle Morrison of the UK Centre for Process Innovation. The full results of the study are due to be announced in London in September. Aside from these potential feedstocks, new technologies such as the Economizer, Bioextruder and CaviMax, are enabling what were previously considered indigestible feedstocks to come on stream. All three have the potential Continued>>

The CaviMax

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Feedstock

The Economizer

to reduce the reliance on crop feedstocks, as they allow the utilisation of low-value residue materials, such as straw, husks, wood waste, reeds, digestate and used animal bedding. The Economizer achieves this by using recycled heat to power a process of steam explosion, to break away the lignin coating of materials like straw that is usually very inefficient to digest taking as long as 12 months and making the cellulose readily available for digestion to occur at similar rates to that of maize. Lignin is a class of complex polymers that give structure to plants. Rika Biofuel’s Bioextruder achieves a similar result through the use of counter-rotating screws; bioextrusion is the thermo-mechanical disintegration of cell structures using predominately electricity to power the process with no requirement for additional heat. The CaviMax uses hydrodynamic cavitation to deliver tremendous ‘localised’ forces which impart destructive effects on solids in dispersions, emulsions and slurries affecting particle size and distribution.

Unintended consequences need to be addressed

What this clearly exemplifies is an industry that’s ahead of the curve in looking to move away from energy crops and in developing solutions to challenges. What the RHI and FIT sustainability criteria serve to do is jeopardise this transition – which impacts crop farmers and wider rural economies as well as AD operators.

Nowhere is this more clearly evident than with the issue of herbal leys, which Jenny Phelps, Visiting Lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Royal Agricultural University and senior farm conservation adviser with the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group describes as “the cure”. Herbal leys were first piloted in 2008 and are proven to perform myriad services that more than meet any definition of sustainability. To envisage herbal leys, think of bucolic meadows that are the hallmark of traditional depictions of the UK’s rural landscape: a mix of grasses and pasture plants such as clovers and deep-rooting herbs like plantain and chicory. Among livestock farmers in the US, herbal leys are called “super salad” because of the nutritious grazing they provide for cattle and sheep. Herbal leys are also known as a “super feedstock” for AD because they contain a high mineral element, which increases biomethane productivity. They are also known as “super grass” for the ecological services they provide, particularly in rebuilding soil fertility. A layer of healthy soil reduces harmful greenhouse gases: the first metre of the Earth’s soil contains as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all vegetation combined. If soil is poorly managed, carbon is released into the atmosphere. Ms Phelps says that if the 200,000 hectares of land currently used to grow maize was planted with herbal leys, the latter would sequestrate two million tonnes of CO2 a year. Under the RHI, however, the growth of herbal leys has been disincentivised, as they have been designated a crop. “If you created a market for herbal leys, it would deliver a negative carbon impact,” says Ms Phelps. ”It will enable the transition back to mixed farming with AD as part of the system.”

Jenny Phelps, who in 2016 was awarded an MBE for engaging communities in the protection of the environment, has been leading research into herbal leys 14

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

The double whammy of having to source new waste feedstocks and the potential costs associated with securing a waste classification could have the www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Bioextruder

unintended consequence of stalling the manifest progress the AD industry is making in hoovering up what were previously discarded materials, operational skills and technical developments..... While the policy goal central to the RHI and FIT is one ADBA wholeheartedly endorses, the road to achieving it is wrong. ADBA will continue to make the case for sustainably grown energy crops as they play an integral role in the agro-economy, supporting farmers’ incomes, and in agro-ecology, protecting our soils, while also helping to decarbonise the gas grid. Efforts to exclude them are tantamount to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut – only 1% of farm land in the UK is used to grow energy crops, less than is turned over to carbon-intensive golf courses. A slower transition is required. ADBA will also continue to press the case with the EA for a revision of charges to obtain a waste classification. As currently priced, the costs to secure a ruling could run in to the thousands of pounds, acting as a brake on investment in making plants more efficient. ADBA is also making representations to the regulators for the establishment of a technical working group to streamline permitting for feedstocks, most of which occurs on an ad-hoc basis. The RHI and FIT regimes both recognise the role of AD in delivering myriad environmental services while tackling the burgeoning waste crisis and decarbonising energy supply as part of efforts to meet the UK’s climate-change commitments. These schemes should also recognise the role AD plays in supporting rural economies and supporting mixed farming. Policy needs to be honed to ensure AD can deliver these services more efficiently and effectively. www.amurenergy.co.uk www.abagri.com www.forfarmers.co.uk www.futurebiogas.com www.rikabiofuels.com www.cavimax.co.uk

News The Sunday Times publishes ADBA letter of correction The Sunday Times on 12th August published a letter written by ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton responding to an article on AD (paywall) by the broadsheet. The short article, which appeared in the Sunday Times on 5th August, suggested that investors were 'questioning the wisdom' of AD plants and pointed to examples of insolvencies in the industry. It also incorrectly stated that AD plants are subsidised by the European Union. Charlotte's letter to the paper sought to correct the inaccuracy and give a more balanced view of the current state of the AD industry. The full letter sent to the Sunday Times, the majority of which was published, read as follows:

Sir, Peter Evans’ article ‘Magic of ‘miracle’ green digesters fades as pioneers go bust’ (5th August 2018) is both inaccurate and misleading. First, anaerobic digestion (AD) plants are not subsidised by the EU, as Mr Evans incorrectly states. Payments under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are not made to support renewable energy generation on farms. Farmers

producing biogas from an AD plant can receive payments for producing renewable heat (from the Renewable Heat Incentive, RHI), electricity (from the Feed-In Tariff or Renewables Obligation), or transport fuel (from the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation), all of which are entirely unrelated to the EU or the CAP. Second, despite the insolvencies referred to in the article, the UK AD industry is growing and is forecast to continue to do so. We are expecting as many as 50 new biomethane-to-grid plants to be built over the next 18 months as a result of restored tariffs from the RHI, with these plants making a vital contribution to decarbonising the UK’s heat supply. As in all industries, it is not uncommon for AD plants to change hands as part of refinancing and upgrading arrangements, and we welcome all efforts to improve performance at AD plants. Third, the suggestion from Jason Baker that farmers find it difficult to run an AD plant alongside their everyday farming operations does not correlate with our experience. A number of our members do exactly this very successfully, having

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

incorporated the plant into their operations, and report a wide range of benefits including homegrown energy, better management of farm wastes, and the ability to diversify their income in a time of volatile commodity prices. With regard to the growing of purpose-grown crops for AD, this is usually done as part of a traditional agricultural rotation, helping farmers to improve food crop yields and soil quality, or these are grown on marginal land not suitable for food crops. The amount of land used for growing crops for energy generation in England is less than 1%, and this figure is even lower across the devolved nations – more land is used for golf courses. Our analysis also shows that the growing of these crops has had no discernible impact on food supply for humans or livestock. AD has a vital role to play in recycling wastes, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and producing the renewable energy, clean transport fuel, and soilrestoring biofertiliser that the UK desperately needs – we would expect a newspaper of the calibre of the Sunday Times to know and better reflect this in its reporting.”

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

News Bore Hill Farm becomes first English AD plant certified under performance scheme Bore Hill Farm Biodigester Bore Hill Farm Biodigester has become the first English anaerobic digestion (AD) plant to be certified under a new certification scheme that recognises good operational, environmental, and health and safety performance at UK AD plants. The plant, based in Warminster in Wiltshire and run by Malaby Biogas, processes inedible food waste to create biofertiliser and renewable heat and power. It generates enough green electricity to power 2,500 houses. The plant has been certified under the Anaerobic Digestion Certification Scheme (ADCS), an industry-led initiative designed to raise standards and recognise good practice in the running of AD plants. The scheme provides an independent audit process and report that help operators to ensure they are meeting required standards and identify areas for improvement. The ADCS has been developed in collaboration with a range of industry stakeholders including regulators, insurers, investors, and operators, and is managed by the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA), the UK’s trade body for AD. Bore Hill Farm becomes the second UK plant to be certified under the scheme following the certification of Granville EcoPark in Northern Ireland earlier this year.

ADBA RESPONDS TO CRITICISM OF ENERGY CROP USE ADBA has responded to criticism of the use of crops for renewable energy production through AD. This summer’s dry conditions have led to shortages of animal feed and bedding across the UK, with some calling for restrictions on the amount of crops fed into AD plants. In a press statement, ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton responded by pointing out that the growing of AD crops as part of an agricultural rotation is a proven farming method that improves soil quality and food production yields whilst reducing the need for chemical pesticides and herbicides. Growing crops to produce bioenergy also naturally aids pest and weed control by, for example, controlling the growth of blackgrass, which can no longer be adequately controlled by chemical herbicides. ADBA’s analysis suggests that the growing of crops for AD is not having a significant impact on animal feed or human food outputs, and compared to other land uses, the impact of land used for growing crops for AD is minimal. Less than 1% of land in England is used for AD crops and even less across other parts of the UK, with much more land used for golf courses.

More land is used for golf courses than growing crops for AD

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

In June, ADBA Environment & Regulation Manager Jess Allan was invited to Expo Biogaz in Strasbourg to speak about ADBA’s experience in developing best practice in AD plant performance.

Exporting excellence

France is experiencing growth in biogas and biomethane production and is keen to ensure that plants are developed and run to a high standard. Jess gave an overview of the UK AD market and the challenges it has faced in recent years, particularly around the perception of AD as ‘high-risk’ by regulators, insurers and other stakeholders. Jess described the actions that the UK industry has taken to address this – chiefly the development of the AD Certification Scheme (ADCS), which was launched in December 2017, and the surrounding activities to improve access to guidance and awareness of good practice. The ADCS provides a structured, holistic review of the performance of an AD plant by means of a thorough audit process, and is a useful tool for operators in identifying where they can improve, how they can keep their staff and the environment safe, and how they can get the best from their plant. Jess touched on the lessons that the UK AD industry has learnt through this process and some of the key considerations the French AD industry should consider as it plans its own approach. We look forward to seeing how they get on. For more information on the ADCS, contact adcs@adbioresources.org

NEW ADBA MARKET REPORT PUBLISHED The July 2018 ADBA Market Report was launched in July at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018. The report outlines the current state of the UK AD industry and how it is likely to develop up to 2020. Highlights from the report include: • 635 plants now in operation; • 20% growth in capacity in the last year; • 12.8 TWh/yr of biogas generated by the AD industry, with 4.3 TWh/yr of biomethane-to-grid; • The AD industry is now powering an equivalent of 1.2 million homes; • New Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) reforms are expected to unlock £150£300m in delayed investment in around 50 biomethane plants over the next two years; • Government has given the go-ahead for dual participation in the RHI and Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The report includes the latest tariffs for the RHI and Feed-in Tariff, as well as an update on the reformed RTFO. The report also projects where ADBA expects new capacity to come from over the next few years, and what the industry’s market potential can be if we make use of all suitable feedstocks.

For more information on ADBA’s press engagement, contact chris.noyce@adbioresources.org

ADBA SHOWCASES AD CERTIFICATION SCHEME IN FRANCE

ADBA members can download the report for free at: https://bit.ly/2v7ozkP For more market information, contact emiliano.lewis@adbioresources.org

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 ADBA’s Chief Executive Charlotte Morton

Optimism prevails at 2018 Expo

mood of optimism prevailed at UK AD and World Biogas Expo 2018, the world’s largest international tradeshow dedicated solely to anaerobic digestion (AD) and biogas. Deals were done, promising leads established, and a clear direction of travel set out in keynote speeches and panel discussions, featuring scores of government officials, policy makers and industry experts. Well over 2,000 delegates attended both days of the event at the NEC Birmingham on 11th-12th July, with more than 160 exhibitors and 180 speakers representing all aspects of the industry. Almost all who attended remarked on the “quality” of the event; particularly exhibitors, who said they had received a high standard of enquiries from visitors. Dr Hermann Dauser, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Economizer GMBH, gave a typical assessment. “This is a great show,” he said. “It’s our fourth year here and it has got better every year; the speakers have got better every year and the quality of clients has got better every year. Investors are here. Here you can work on new projects and big deals. Here biogas is focused on industry and the benefits to society.” Continued>>

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Andrew Taylor, Head of Business Development at CooperÖstlund, said, “Most people we’ve spoken to are very focused on what they want. There’s a noticeable advance within the industry.” (See Expo highlights, pages 30-31)

Reasons to be cheerful

The buoyant mood was further evidenced by a record number of re-bookings by exhibitors for what will be the ADBA’s 10th anniversary Expo in 2019. And it certainly chimed with the upbeat analysis of the industry’s future prospects from ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton. In her opening remarks at the Expo, Ms Morton said that “the tide may be turning” for the AD industry in the UK, and that “there are a number of reasons to believe AD in the UK has a bright future”. First, changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) have attracted a potential £150-£300m of new investment to build 49 new biomethane plants, with the Committee on Climate Change pushing for the government to pledge before the end of the year to continue that support beyond 2021. The introduction of the European Union’s Circular Economy Package (CEP), obliging EU Member States to bring in separate collections for biowaste by December 2023, offers a great opportunity for the industry, and ADBA is expecting the government to commit to meeting this target in its forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy. Finally, there is considerable investment coming into the sector for upgrading and refinancing existing AD plants to improve their efficiency and profitability. Ms Morton’ remarks were endorsed by David Newman, President of the World Biogas Association (WBA), which, for the second year, partnered with ADBA to deliver the Expo. Mr Newman said, “Biogas is one of the solutions to reducing waste and reducing greenhouse gases and it can be implemented quickly; the technology is mature and the industry is innovating all the time to improve efficiency. Everyone is looking at it with great interest.”

Keynote Address - Campbell Keir

There is a growing recognition of the importance of AD Campbell Keir addressing the UK AD & World Biogas Expo

The broader environmental services delivered by anaerobic digestion (AD) have registered on the government’s radar, UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 was told by Campbell Keir, the Director of Energy and Infrastructure at the Department for International Trade (DIT). “There is a growing recognition in government of the importance of the AD industry in the wider waste management debate,” Mr Keir said.

It means in the UK the industry is no longer solely being viewed as a source of renewable energy in competition with wind and solar. Rather the industry’s wider virtues have come to the fore as a potential large-scale solution to the burgeoning waste issue, capable of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from waste and improving air quality while delivering renewable energy. Confirming the government’s commitment to adopt the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP), which will result in compulsory food waste collections being introduced in England, Mr Keir said this was a great opportunity for the sector. He added that the DIT would be working closely with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) on the forthcoming Resources & Waste Strategy and highlighted the opportunities presented by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Contracts for Difference and Bioeconomy Strategy.

WBA President David Newman

He described the CEP as “the new industrial revolution” and said that when the full gamut of environmental services provided by the AD industry was fully understood it would be seen as competitive with and complementary to other renewable energy technologies. He tasked the industry with continuing to improve efficiency and focus on developing technology for urban centres in readiness for the adoption of CEP across Europe.

However, he said, there are also challenges to be overcome. He said the industry must address public resistance to new plants, which would require a “hearts and minds” campaign to reverse. The AD Certification Scheme introduced by ADBA was a step in the right direction to reassuring the public. In a similar vein, the ongoing debate about plastic versus compostable or digestible packaging had to be resolved and the sector has a clear interest and role to play in addressing this issue. The final challenge Mr Keir observed was air quality, referencing Defra’s Clean Air Strategy, which aims to reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture and identifies digestate from AD as one source of these emissions. Mr Keir was, however, upbeat about the outlook for the AD industry. Acknowledging the rapid advances in technology that have been achieved and evident skills in the sector, he said that AD has great export potential. Indonesia, Africa, Brazil, California and China were countries and regions known to have a keen interest in AD that are actively seeking the skills, expertise and technology to develop AD markets. Mr Keir concluded by saying there are dedicated development experts at the DIT with a specialist knowledge of AD and bioresources who could help the industry connect with these markets, and he extended an open invitation to any interested parties to contact his team; either deborah.sacks@trade.gov.uk or spencer.clifford@trade.gov.uk

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Food waste workshops

Preparing for separate food waste collections One of the key features of this year’s show was a series of dedicated workshops focused on delivering the benefits of separate food waste collections. With targets for separate biowaste collections by December 2023 having recently come into force in the European Union and health and environmental factors driving change elsewhere around the world, the workshops aimed to provide attendees with examples of best practice in introducing and maintaining separate food waste collections. The first workshop on day one of the Expo examined the funding and policy mechanisms needed to support local authorities and municipalities in introducing separate collections. ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton set the scene by discussing the need for relevant legislation for England before speakers on the panel gave examples of their experiences in Scotland, Italy, and the US. Food waste workshop (l-r): Adrian Bond, Mike Gardner, Peter Jones, Patrick Serfass, Marco Ricci, Ricardo Cepeda-Márquez and Charlotte Morton

In the UK only 12% of inedible food waste, just 600,000 tonnes, is collected annually, out of a potential total of over 10 million tonnes (mt); 7.3 mt of that being household food waste . In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, where there is a statutory duty to capture food waste, rates of collection are running at over 70%, 80% and nearly 100% of households respectively.

The positive promotion of reasons to recycle is the key to the successful introduction of separate food waste collections

60%

Audience members representing local authorities were asked to identify themselves and discuss their own challenges in bringing in food waste collections, gaining invaluable feedback from the panel and from other local authorities who were able to share what had and hadn’t worked in their own case.

more energy is generated from food waste treated through AD than if the same food waste was put in a black bin bag and sent to an energy recovery unit.

A session on the best way to set up an efficient collection system took place in the afternoon of the first day with Stephen Didsbury, Head of Waste Services at the London Borough of Bexley, revealing how the local authority had diverted all waste from landfill to either recycling, composting or waste to energy over a period of 25 years. Councillor Dr Simon Pickering, Chairman of the Environment Committee on Stroud District Council, revealed that since 2015 waste going to landfill in Local authority chiefs in the audience joined the debate

Stroud had fallen by over half following a concerted effort to introduce separate food waste collections. Dr Pickering suggested the achievement may reflect a change in public mood and understanding of the issues around waste, and messaging about being a ‘wasteful society’ stirring people to want to act if the services are available.

Both Mr Didsbury and Dr Pickering emphasised the necessity of promoting food waste recycling in a positive light, accentuating the holistic benefits in terms of air quality, health, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction – methane is a more potent GHG than CO2 and is released from landfill - and the virtues of being an active player in the circular economy. Making it easy for households to participate was identified as being critical. WRAP’s Mike Gardner introduced delegates to WRAP’s Cost Benefit Analysis Tool (www.wrap.org.uk/content/cost-benefit-analysis-web-tool), which helps local authorities and AD plant operators identify the potential financial benefits to implementing interventions such as bin stickers and caddy liners designed to increase food waste recycling levels. How to increase food waste collections from businesses and public facilities was considered on day two of the conference, with this session exploring the opportunity costs of introducing dedicated services to businesses, such as restaurants and supermarkets, and public facilities such as prisons, schools and hospitals. Presentations made during the workshops are available to registered delegates and exhibitors from UK & World Biogas Expo 2018 at www.biogastradeshow.com

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 WBA Members’ Meeting

“We need this,” UN says of WBA’s Food Waste Report Just a little over 18 months after being formed - with ADBA as a founder member - the World Biogas Association (WBA) has substantially raised the international profile of the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry. WBA has been invited to present its landmark report - Global Food Waste Management: An Implementation Guide For Cities, co-authored with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group - to the COP24 global conference in Poland in November, where solutions to climate change are sought. The invitation was extended to WBA President David Newman in July by the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa, after she heard him present the report to the biennial Clean Enviro Summit in Singapore. At the latest WBA Members’ Meeting, which took place the day before UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018, Mr Newman reported back that Ms Espinosa told him, “This is an industry-based solution and we need this. We are not getting enough industry-led solutions to the greenhouse gas issue.” He went on to say that WBA had also been invited to join the UN’s Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), which works on 11 initiatives that have been identified as priority areas with the greatest potential for fast action to reduce climate change impacts.

UN update

Patricia

Espinosa Since the members’ meeting at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018, WBA President David Newman has received a formal invitation to attend the COP24 Climate Change Conference in December. In a letter dated August 14th, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), wrote, “Your leadership and unwavering commitment to forging a more sustainable and inclusive future is well known and highly respected. Therefore, I firmly believe that your presence at COP 24 and participation in events would be a real inspiration for the global community to spur innovative solutions, build new alliances and scale-up their on-going efforts to raise ambition on climate change.”

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

In Singapore he’d found a ready audience for the Food Waste Report, Mr Newman said, which manifested itself in an appeal for ‘our’ expertise in biogas. “They told me, we’ve tried doing AD and we’re not doing it very well. We need your help.”

There was great interest shown in the WBA at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018

He cited a specific example. In Singapore the cost of waste facilities is calculated using, among other metrics, the physical footprint, because of shortage of space. Therefore, they need to fit an AD plant able to treat 300 tonnes of food waste a day into one hectare. “This is a technological challenge to the industry and so far, no-one has come forward to make a proposal,” Mr Newman said, “When we attend trade shows and conferences and network, opportunities emerge for the expansion of AD.” Aside from Singapore, the Food Waste report has been presented to conferences in Prague, Greece and Finland. WBA is also scheduled to present it to the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome in September and Waste Con in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October and Ecomondo in Rimini in November. Following Mr Newman’s round up of global activity, the WBA meeting featured country reports from the US and Italy. Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of the American Biogas Council, detailed the potential size of the US market and the challenges they face in growing the industry there. Marco Ricci from CIC, the Italian Composting and Biogas Association, told a food waste success story – composting and AD is treating six and a half million tonnes annually of food and garden waste and commanding gate fees of up to €90 a tonne. Incentives have been introduced for biomethane production in Italy, which are drawing very large investments. The meeting also heard from WBA members from Canada, the US, Japan and Europe. Brad Douville, President of Greenlane Biogas, who previously worked in the oil industry, told the meeting he has “followed the money” out of oil. “Gas is the future, particularly biogas,” he said. “Things are only ramping up so we’re pretty excited about the industry.” The meeting closed with the launch of the new WBA logo and website by the association’s Marketing Manager Jocelyne Bia. The logo has been designed to capture the diversity of interests WBA represents and the myriad environmental services biogas production delivers.

The future of biogas is now Join us in realising our mission

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Contact: Roberta Bontempo E: rbontempo@worldbiogasassociation.org T: +44 (0) 203 176 4414 M: +44 (0) 7931 291 096

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Farmers’ Breakfast Briefing

Investors increasingly attracted by on-farm AD Early birds: AD operators wanting to recapitalise at the Breakfast Briefing

Dan Purvis of Ingenious Capital (left) and panel chairman Tim Pratt

Investors are queuing up and AD operators want to recapitalise to expand, creating a perfect synergy. That was the clear message to emerge from the Farmers’ Breakfast Briefing at the UK AD and World Biogas Expo on 11th July. The briefing was chaired by Tim Pratt, Technical Director of FEC Energy/NFU Energy Service, who couldn’t disguise his delight when opening proceedings. He said, “I never thought I’d be chairing a meeting about on-farm AD investment, with the numbers in the billions.” Investors are being attracted by steady and stable returns, said Helena Anderson, who, in her former role as a civil servant at the Department for International Trade (DIT), is credited with attracting £5bn of energy investment into the UK. She now runs Ikigai Capital; the Japanese name of the fund reflecting its primary capital source and outlook. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “reason for being”; defined as identifying what you are passionate about, what the world needs now, what you can contribute and what makes money. Fund manager Helena Anderson said she was getting traction for on-farm AD

Later, Ms Anderson said the AD industry had a problem in pressing its case with government because responsibility for it was split across multiple departments: Defra, BEIS, Treasury, and Transport. In these silos it is hard for AD to get traction for the holistic environmental services it delivers. She advised that AD might be better served by making its case for rural economic growth through the government’s Industrial Strategy. Dan Purvis from Ingenious Capital addressed the fundamentals of refinancing for on-farm AD operators (see Advice Clinic, page 34). Stephen Temple of JF Temple & Sons Ltd said the industry should not refer to “on-farm” AD but “in-farm” AD, “to put it at the heart of everything we do”. His digester stands at the heart of his 500-acre arable dairy farm, which also produces cheese. The dairy, cheese-making operations, bore-hole pump, beat cutter, buggy, cars and domestic power for several homes all run off electricity from the digester. He reckoned the only thing he couldn’t power from AD would be ploughing. He also spoke of the importance of the AD Certification Scheme. If the industry doesn’t embrace this voluntarily then one would eventually be imposed by government, he said. “It’s an important step; investors will start to demand a minimum threshold is met. We need to consolidate, get our act together. A safe, clean and tidy plant is a good and efficient plant.” In this respect, and in light of the abeyance in introducing the new RHI tariffs, he added that it is “essential we have ADBA to fight for us.”

She said on-farm AD makes money. “I’m getting more traction with on-farm AD. The return on investment in other energy sectors is falling but interest remains in investing in the proven technology and cash flows of AD,” she said.

Stephen Temple launched the concept of “in-farm” AD

Investors recognised the long-term potential for growth, paying particular attention to the multiple environmental services AD delivers. “AD offers a sustainable solution to a real-world problem. It is aligned with clean growth policy, industrial strategy and integrated energy solutions, and transport,” said Ms Anderson. She also observed, “AD offers a closed-loop solution for rural growth, delivering economic security and smoothing on-farm cash flows.” The sustainable criteria of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), under which at least 50 per cent of feedstock must be derived from waste for AD operators to claim the full tariff, is appealing to investors, she added. “Investors want to see a mix of feedstock; it’s more sustainable in the long-term. The world is looking for diversified revenue stacks as it de-risks.” www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 R&D Hub

R&D Hub at UK AD & World Biogas 2018 showcases innovative businesses and research collaborations use LPG, CNG and hydrogen, so have wide potential applications as a primary drive in small vehicles. The Interreg North West Europe funded ALG-AD project is a group of scientists and engineers from 11 different partners in four countries across northwest Europe, led by Swansea University. The project is developing new technology to take excess nutrients produced from AD and use them to cultivate algal biomass for animal feed and other high-value products.

This year’s R&D Hub at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 was jointly hosted by the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded Anaerobic Digestion Network (AD Net), the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), with each partner inviting businesses and academics involved in commercialising exciting research to showcase their innovations at the show. At the cutting edge of industry development and technology research, the following businesses and projects were chosen by the R&D Hub partners to exemplify just a few of the breakthroughs being made possible by collaborations between business and academia. The H2020 Biowave project is a new microwave treatment system for AD to significantly increase biogas production from feedstocks such as pig manure, of which over 1bn m3 is produced in Europe alone. It has the potential to create €4bn of green energy. The project’s academic partner is the RF and Microwave Group at Liverpool John Moores University. The H2020 Biowave being installed this year for industrial trials at Ashleigh Farms

The Anaerodynamics Project, based at the University of Warwick, funded by the BBSRC and supported by AD Net, is slightly different from the projects above in that it is an academic project working with 10 operational AD plants across the UK in order to better understand the microbiomes within full-sized plants. Such understanding may help us to better control the AD process and increase its efficiency.

Sanjay Nagarajan

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from universities across the country also contributed posters, including this year’s AD Net ECR poster winner Sanjay Nagarajan from Queen’s University Belfast, whose poster explored “Cavitation Pre-treatment of Digestate for Enhanced Anaerobic Digestibility”. Sanjay’s prize for contributing another exciting development in the field of cavitation was a year’s membership of ADBA.

The main conference seminars included elements of AD research with sessions on biomethanisation (the creation of high-methane-content biogas through biological means, using excess hydrogen produced by renewables); high-value systems using membranes and bio-electrochemical technology; and AD in a circular economy as part of a biorefinery with the production of high-value products and platform chemicals, research which has great potential to take the technology far beyond biogas.

Alchemy Utilities are working with Harper Adams as part of the EU 20:20 AgroCycle Circular Economy Project to develop a modular, thermophilic, dry AD system which can digest feedstocks such as 100% chicken litter, cellulosic wastes and duck wastes. It has a pre-treatment system to strip ammonia at the front end and re-introduce it at the back end without the addition of water and commensurate increased parasitic load.

Angela Bywater, ADNet co-manager with the Department for Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton addressing the Expo 2018.

OakTec, supported by Energy Catalyst funding and working with partners including Loughborough University, is on the verge of commercialising a high-performance, low-cost Pulse-RTM gas engine which has low emissions and a high tolerance to fuels such as biogas. The engines can also www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

3rd - 4th July | NEC | Birmingham The largest international trade show dedicated to anaerobic digestion and biogas

INSIGHT - INNOVATION - INVESTMENT

www.biogastradeshow.com organised by

Confirmed exhibitors

• 2G Energy Ltd • A-Consult • Activated Carbons • Alps Ecoscience • Aprovis Energy Systems • Astute Technical Recruitment • Atritor • BioConstruct New Energy • BWE Energiesystem • Centrair AB • Clayton Hall Farm • Clarke Energy • CPL • Dorset Green Machines • EMS Industries • Eurotron • FM Bioenergy • Gen-C • Greencrop Irrigation • Green Energy B.V • Greenlane Biogas • HRS Heat Exchangers • Huesker UK • Jacobi Carbons AG • Konrad Pumpe GmbH • Landia UK • Little Green Consulting • Mavitec • NRM Laboratories • Omex Environmental • Puregas Solutions • TT Pumps • Uniflare Group • Vogelsang • Weltec Biopower • Xergi

To add your name to the list and benefit from early exposure, contact: Roberta Bontempo, Manager E: roberta.bontempo@adbioresources.org T: +44 (0)20 3176 4414 AD & Bioresources News | autumnSales 2018 www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018

Paul ‘the Sinhaman’ Sinha

ADBA Chief executive Charlotte Morton (centre) with guests

Dan Purvis

This year, AD’s coming home There has never been an awards ceremony like it; nor, for that matter, such a well-dressed football crowd. The AD & Biogas Industry Awards 2018 at the Vox Banqueting Complex in Birmingham on 11th July coincided this year with the biggest night in English football for a generation, with England taking on Croatia in the World Cup semi-final. As a result the awards dinner and ceremony were brought forward by one hour, to allow for the game to be broadcast live. When England right-back Kieran Trippier scored after six minutes, the room erupted. After 120 minutes, with England eliminated in extra time, comedian Paul Sinha faced the toughest job in comedy, lifting the room. The man popularly known as the Sinhaman on ITV’s gameshow ‘The Chase’ delivered the first triumph of the evening, a hilarious set that riotously climaxed with Dan Purvis of Ingenious Finance being declared the poster boy of the UK AD industry. Many more triumphs followed with the commencement of the awards proper. The shortlist for this year’s ceremony included AD and biogas projects from Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Africa, India and Hong Kong, as well as from across the UK.

The best dressed football crowd ever?

Introducing the awards, ADBA Chief Executive Charlotte Morton said, “We’re so lucky to work alongside so many innovators and pioneers across a broad array of specialisms – the talent demonstrated this evening is something we can all be truly proud of. “We’re here to celebrate the very best of the best in AD and biogas from across the UK and around the world and to bring together those who have made particularly important contributions to the growth of our industry and all of the many wider benefits that AD and biogas deliver.” Ms Morton said that despite the political uncertainty caused by Brexit, which had impacted all sectors across the economy, “there are reasons to be positive”: the new Renewable Heat Incentive tariffs, the coming into force of the EU’s Circular Economy Package, and “huge financial opportunities for upgrading and refinancing the 330 on-farm AD plants in the UK.” Unable to resist an open goal given the way the evening had kicked off, Ms Morton concluded by saying, “So despite the general uncertainty in the economy, there are concrete things coming down the road that will give the AD industry the boost it needs to get back on track and deliver its many benefits. This year, AD really is coming home.” Before leaving the field to the evening’s MC, Charlotte Smith of BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today and TV’s Countryfile, Ms Morton thanked the award sponsors for their support: Good Energy, Future Biogas, 4DAD Services, Vogelsang, Air Liquide, and Pentair. See the full list of award winners on pages 26-28

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Awards winners

MAKING THE MOST OF BIOGAS

Winner CRYO PUR

BEST PROCESS OPTIMISATION IN AD

Winner XERGI/STREAM BIOENERGY Recognised for the big strides taken in innovation and their commitment in terms of money, time and ethical approach.

For developing the first commercial plant producing bio-LNG on a farm, using an innovative cryogenic upgrading and liquefaction technology, which allows the efficient delivery of biomethane to customers without the gas grid, opening the door into the gas and transport network in Northern Ireland.

Receiving the award: Benjamin Berg, Business Developer Northern Europe and Simon Clodic, Sales Director, both Cryo Pur.

Highly commended GRANVILLE ENERGY SUPPLY & EDINA For strong project management skills, making excellent use of biogas to produce fuel and transport it. Nominated Bio Collectors, Making the Most of Biogas AD HERO OF THE YEAR Receiving the award (l-r): Morgen Burke, Development Manager of Stream Bioenergy, Jørgen Fink, Country Manager of Xergi, Awards MC Charlotte Smith (not captioned hereafter), Kevin Fitzduff, Managing Director of Stream Bioenergy, Jørgen Ballermann, CEO of Xergi.

Winner THOMAS MINTER from Malaby Biogas For his dedicated and driven approach; his contribution over the last 12 months has been considerable. His Bore Hill Farm Biodigester runs at 170% original gas output and 160% of designed input. Future innovations include digestate optimisation, novel feedstocks and odour management.

Highly commended NVP ENERGY Last year’s winners impressed again with a very interesting submission, signalling a promising future. Nominated Ekogea; ALPS Ecoscience UK Ltd; Ashleigh Environmental

Receiving the award (l-r): Thomas Minter with Philipp Lukas, MD of award sponsor Future Biogas.

Highly commended IAN FARR from Edina Ian has been instrumental in the growth of the AD market in the UK, Ireland and Australia, delivering over 109.2 MWe of installed biogas CHP plants. Nominated Stephen Temple from J F Temple & Son Ltd

MAKING THE MOST OF DIGESTATE

Winner VEENHUIS MACHINES B.V The Judges thought that despite the current challenging times for farmers it was inspiring to see Veenhuis create a whole new brand, the Nutriflow monitoring system, which has travelled so far in such a short space of time.

AD TEAM OF THE YEAR

Winner EDINA

Receiving the award (l-r): John Crooks of Technical Waste Solutions and Hans Lambers, Export Manager, Veenhuis.

Highly commended DORSET GREEN MACHINES & PLANTGROW Dorset Green Machines has been a leading innovative manufacturer of drying systems, converting residues and wastes into valuable products. PlantGrow for developing the eponymous brand of natural fertilisers Nominated Stopford Energy Environment

BEST FOOD WASTE SUPPLY CHAIN PROJECT

Winner FARESHARE

Sponsored by

For going from strength to strength delivering biogas CHP solutions within the agricultural, food processing and sewage wastewater treatment sectors. Highly commended UNIFLARE GROUP Uniflare is constantly evolving. Its equipment is operating in over 10 countries, improving process efficiency. Nominated Privilege Finance; CSIR – Indian Institute of Chemical Technology

For setting new standards in maximising food capture. FareShare is the largest charity in the UK fighting hunger and food waste, delivering fresh, in-date surplus food to charities that turn it into meals. Last year they redistributed 16,922 tonnes across 1,500 towns and cities in the UK. Highly commended BIOGAS ACADEMY (Biogasakademin (SE)) For the innovative introduction of food waste sorting in all 13 Stockholm hospitals, setting a strong example for the public sector. Nominated CSIR (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology)

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

Sponsored by

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Receiving the award (l-r): Colin McKibbin, Head of Sales Ireland, Hugh Richmond, CEO, and Ian Farr, Sales Manager, all Edina.

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 BEST INNOVATION IN BIOMETHANE

Winner SGN Portsdown Hill: The Remote Grid Entry Hub Noted by the Judges as a game-changer, this entry was considered the first biomethane project of its type in the world for biomethane grid entry systems and has the potential for huge capacity. It was thought to be a beacon project for others.

Receiving the award (l-r): Simon Reilly, Commercial Director & Deputy CFO and Alan Midwinter, Head of Renewable Development, both SGN.

Highly commended CRYO PUR Greenville Bio-LNG plant For its innovative cryogenic upgrading technology. Nominated Pentair BioSense VOC, Gas Analyser; Geotech Biomethane 3000 fixed system analyser

BEST AD SUPPORT (TECHNICAL)

Winner UNIFLARE For turning their business around during these challenging times, the judges felt they had taken the category by storm.

AD RISING STAR

Receiving the award (l-r): Stephanie James, Sales Manager, and Mike Lee, Project Development Manager, Uniflare.

Sponsored by

Winner ALEX TODHUNTER Iona Capital For demonstrating a high level of professionalism with a committed and driven approach, executed with strong acumen.

Highly commended Cooper Östlund A previous winner, CooperÖstlund has geared up for international expansion over the past year. Nominated Sweco UK Ltd

Receiving the award (l-r): Paul Delo, Iona Capital Business Development Director, on behalf of Alex. The award was presented by Hamish Bichan of sponsor 4DAD.

BEST AD SUPPORT (LEGAL, ACCOUNTING & CONSULTING)

Winner AARDVARK EM LTD: AD Benchmarking and Improvement Team

Highly commended KATIE FRENCH Privilege Finance For making a huge impact and developing a pivotal role within the AD and biogas industry in just 12 months. Nominated Sean Morgan RUR3 Environmental Ltd

The judges felt that Aardvark AD services had been far-reaching and offered a strong line of quality with their support across the whole sector.

BEST METHANE OR AMMONIA EMISSIONS MANAGEMENT PROJECT

Receiving the award (l-r): Nick Leaney, Director, and Nicholas Johnn, Senior Consultant, Aardvark EM.

Highly commended FISHER GERMAN LLP: Fisher German the Sustainable Energy Team For consistently offering reliable support in what has been a very challenging year for the industry. Nominated Octego – Committed to ADding Finance; Privilege Finance

Winner HOST The judges felt that HoSt confirmed their commitment to this issue, developing an installation to capture ammonia from digestate, confirming that the AD industry is committed to developing technology that reduces emissions.

Having received the award (l-r): HoSt Sales Manager Chris Long and Sales Engineer Jeffrey Kruit.

Highly commended JF TEMPLE & SONS LTD The judges felt that J F Temple & Sons demonstrated best practice in addressing ammonia emissions concerns, including those from Defra, driving the process of elimination forward. Nominated CENTRIAIR

RESEARCH PROJECT AWARD

Winner EXERGYN LIMITED For the Exergyn Drive. Exergyn presented an excellent submission which has huge potential – developing an engine that runs on hot water! The data look extremely promising. Receiving the award (l-r): Ricardo Cepeda-Márquez, Head of the Solid Waste Initiative at C40, presented the award to Mike Langan, Commercial Director, Exergyn.

Highly commended PERLEMAX LIMITED For its pilot-scale study into AD intensification. Nominated Clayton Hall Farm Biogas Products Ltd; ALPS Ecoscience UK Ltd

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Awards winners Continued

BEST UK FOOD WASTE AD PLANT Sponsored by

Winner AGRIVERT LTD, Agrivert North London The Judges felt that Agrivert Ltd had opened up new opportunities for local authorities with this new plant, which is running at the top of its game. It recently celebrated a 31-day run of 100 per cent power production. Receiving the award (l-r): Pauline Ronsin, Business Development Manager for Biomethane at sponsor Air Liquide, presents the award to Chris Woolcock, Commissioning Manager, Andrew Simm, Commercial and Planning Manager and John Parkins, North London AD Site Manager, all Agrivert.

UK AD PLANT MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Winner SHANE DOHERTY Granville Ecopark

Highly commended GRANVILLE ECOPARK Currently the market leaders in Ireland, for delivering an unbeatable circular economy experience in the waste sector. Nominated SEVERN TRENT, Coleshill Food Waste AD Plant; Bio Collectors

In the Judges' opinion Shane Doherty had demonstrated strong leadership, resulting in an excellently run plant during a very busy time. He had demonstrated quality, talent and demonstrable vision and drive.

Receiving the award: Shane Doherty.

BEST INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL PLANT

Highly commended ROB GREENOW BioG UK The Judges felt that Rob deserved to be Highly Commended not only for the number of plants that have grown or expanded under his control but also for the progression of plants moving forward. Nominated COLIN HIRONS Malaby Biogas

BEST UK ON-FARM AD PLANT

Sponsored by

Winner BIOG UK Agrogen, Staffordshire For delivering an operation that had been run with great care, attention, and clever use, resulting in excellent performance. Receiving the award (l-r): James Tolson, MD of sponsor Vogelsang, presents the award to Katie French and Rob Greenow of BioG UK.

Nominated XERGI/STREAM BIOENERGY, Tully Biogas Plant, Ballymena, Northern Ireland; FUTURE BIOGAS Redstow Renewables

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

Sponsored by

Winner TSIATNV/SA, SOCIETE D’INVESTISSEMENT POUR L’AGRICULTURE TROPICALE For its commendable execution of projects in challenging regions, developing two AD and biogas projects in the palm oil sector in West Africa. It has set a benchmark for further roll-out and should even be considered as the standard approach around the world. It showed great use of a local resource.

Receiving the award (l-r): David Hynes of sponsor Pentair presents the award to Alex Fernando Bulnes, Group Biomethanation Manager, Siat-Group.

AD&BIOGAS Industry Awards 2018 Judges • Amaya Arias-Garcia, GOALS Project Management & Engineering Support • Richard Barker, Adviser & Investment Committee Member, Iona Capital • Jorge Hilbert, National Institute of Agriculture Technology, Postgraduate Professor at the National Technology University (NTU) • Dr Sarika Jain, Research & Policy Manager, World Biogas Association • Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy & Climate Change, National Farmers’ Union • Nina Sweet, Special Adviser, WRAP • David Tompkins, Head of Knowledge Exchange & Innovation, Aqua Enviro • Freek van Eijk, Managing Director, Holland Circular Hotspot and Advisory Board Member of the World Biogas Association

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018

Deals, leads and launches: highlights from the exhibition floor “The event was a great success” “We had a busy, but productive two days at UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018,” writes Kathy Nicholls, senior adviser at the Environment Agency. “We gave formal presentations, but having a stand is always a welcome chance for us to engage with people from across the industry. This year, instead of our permitting clinics we had a more informal approach, with colleagues with a wide range of expertise on hand to discuss compliance, combustion, permitting and soil protection. This worked well for the large number of visitors to our stand. It was one of our busiest years yet. It’s always great to hear the new ideas and innovation and meet possible new entrants to the AD sector.

“This year we spoke to more university students, including a large contingent from Brazil. It’s always great to speak to new talent coming into the field of sustainable development and environmental science, and specifically to hear there is so much academic interest in the AD sector. Students were keen to understand the role of the regulator and were surprised at the range of issues and regulation we cover. As always, the event was a great success and well worth us investing our time in. Thanks to everyone who came to see us.”

“There was a lot of interest and comments around digestate management and land spreading, which was encouraging for us. The market for digestate remains a challenge, so it was good to hear ideas and thoughts on future options. There was also considerable interest from technology and infrastructure suppliers. There seems a genuine appetite to assist where operators are facing difficulty meeting permit requirements. We’re really interested to hear about new ideas which make compliance easier and result in better standards for AD. “Many smaller operations may be captured by the Medium Combustion Plant Directive and Specified Generator Regulations. We were surprised to only take a few queries on this regulatory change. This may be because the messages aren’t getting out; this is something we took back and will consider how to engage more on.

“There was a lot of interest around digestate management”

The industry’s global forum UK AD & World Biogas Expo is the global forum for the AD and biogas industry to identify, develop and share practical advice and propose solutions to sector challenges, and this year was no different. With over 30 conference and plenary sessions being staged over the two days of the Expo, policy-makers, regulators, thought leaders and industry pioneers and practitioners drilled down into the major issues of the day facing AD and together delivered myriad blueprints to take the industry forward. Dr Alan Whitehead, MP and Chris Huhne, Strategic Adviser Dr Sarika Jain, Lead Author Among the speakers at this year’s event were: Shadow Energy and Climate and Consultant at Chris Huhne of “Global Food Waste • Campbell Keir, Director, Energy and Infrastructure, Change Minister and Associates Limited and Management” Report Department for International Trade Strategic Adviser, ADBA • Ricardo Cepeda-Márquez, Technical Lead – Food, Water & Waste Programme, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group • Dr Sarika Jain, Lead Author of “Global Food Waste Management” Report • Dr Alan Whitehead, MP and Shadow Energy and Climate Change • Jonathan Hood, Senior Policy Officer – Low Carbon Fuels, Department Minister, Labour Party for Transport (DfT) • Jenny Hill, Head of Buildings, Industry and Bioenergy, Committee on • Susanna Pflüger, Secretary General, European Biogas Association (EBA) Climate Change • Mat Davis, Senior Adviser, Environment Agency (EA). • Chris Huhne, Strategic Adviser and Consultant at Chris Huhne and Associates Limited and Strategic Adviser, ADBA Registered delegates for UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 can view all the • Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate presentations made across the conference theatres at Change, National Farmers Union www.biogastradeshow.com/2018-presentations www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 Reducing downtime

Market maturing

ExxonMobil, sponsors of the Green Seminar Theatre at the Expo, announced the signing of a new five-year sole supply contract with Infinis. Under the agreement, ExxonMobil will deliver the latest range of high performance Mobil Pegasus™ gas engine oils and state-ofthe-art Mobil Serv℠ Lubricant Analysis service, which has extended service times by 50 per cent.

Done deal (l-r): Duane Longthorn (Infinis) and Tommaso Vito (ExxonMobil)

ExxonMobil and Infinis will also continue to conduct joint technology projects under the agreement; the Pegasus 605 Ultra gas, for example, was field-tested at Infinis’ Dorket Head Landfill site. Stewart Wilson, Centre of Excellence Manager at Infinis, said, “Together, we will continue to extend oil drain intervals and enhance equipment life, while reducing costs and unscheduled downtime.” www.exxonmobil.com www.infinis.com

Refuelling on the go Calvera, sponsors of the Silver Conference Theatre at the Expo, announced the launch of a pioneering Mobile Refuelling Unit, which can transport up to 4,000 kg of biogas or compressed natural gas to refill fleet vehicles directly (pictured) – an innovation they believe could bring a ‘fundamental change’ to the UK and EU biogas sector. The new mobile units

can also be used to transport biomethane to be injected into the UK gas grid, offering new market opportunities for biogas producers. The Spanish specialists have already sold their first unit to gas and power multi-national Naturgy (formerly Gas Natural Fenosa) – where it will be used to fuel gas-powered urban buses in Jerez, Spain www.calvera.es/en/

One sure sign of a market maturing is the emergence of a second-hand market, and that’s becoming increasingly evident in the AD industry, Andrew Taylor, Head of Business Development at CooperÖstlund said. Describing the Expo as fantastic, Taylor said, “Most people we’ve spoken to have existing sites and are very focused on what they want. There’s a noticeable advance within the industry, with sites scaling up, and we’re seeing an increase in the reconditioned second life market.” The circular economy just got more circular. www.cooperostlund.com

Gas test draws crowds Pentair Haffmans garnered lots of interest in their new gas analyser, the BioSENSE Online VOC Sensor, by running real-life gas tests on their stand. The company distributed 50 gas sampling kits – worth €500 each - to existing customers who were registered to attend the Expo, to allow them to trial the new analyser. Designed to measure contaminants in biogas, the detailed readouts proved a big draw. See Tech Focus, pages 14-16

Deal done At UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018 Future Biogas signed a deal to deliver an Economizer to Oxford Capital’s Reepham Road AD plant, the sixth to be installed in the UK. Future Biogas is the sole distributor of this new technology from Economizer GMBH, through its subsidiary Future Biogas Systems. Enabling previously indigestible feedstocks to be used in AD, the Economizer is reputed to deliver annual five-figure savings to operators. www.futurebiogas.com See Feedstock Futures, pages 8-13 John Scott-Kerr of Future Biogas getting down to business

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

UK AD & WORLD BIOGAS EXPO 2018 It pays to be certified Kit Wells found “a good level of interest in accreditation”

Kit Wells of Little Green Consulting (LCG) said he had a good level of interest and felt the industry was increasingly alert to the need to have some form of accreditation. He went to the Expo expecting 15 leads and came out with 50. LGC has already signed one contract and Wells says he has lots more to follow up on. Jim Ward, from Safe Training Systems Ltd said the quality of inquiries he received was exceptional. He managed to see some existing clients and also some very interesting new people and was confident some of the conversations he had at the Expo will lead to new contracts being signed.

Landia take to World Biogas stage Landia, inventors of the chopper pump and pioneers of the acclaimed GasMix digester mixing system, became the newest members of the World Biogas Association (WBA) at the Expo. Founder members of ADBA, Landia have significantly increased their global presence in the biogas industry during the past decade, particularly in China, the UK, the USA, the Far East and Australasia. Landia’s Export Sales Director Thorkild Maagaard commented, “As founder members of ADBA, joining the WBA is a natural step in our drive to find new markets.” David Newman, WBA President, said, “We’re delighted to have Landia join the World Biogas Association. They have been strong advocates of AD since day one of ADBA’s launch almost a decade ago – and ever-presents at UK AD & World Biogas Expo. We look forward to working closely with Landia, to continue to grow biogas markets around the world”. www.landiaworld.com

The reasons to get accredited are straightforward: it simplifies relations with the regulators – particularly when it comes to site visits and form-filling - reduces insurance premiums, and a certified operation is more attractive to investors. Andrew Burman, account executive with Jelf Insurance, said they offered a 10% discount to any operator certified under the AD Certification Scheme, which is delivered by Aardvark Certification Limited’s AD Benchmarking and Improvement Team. www.littlegreenconsulting.com www.safetrainingsystems.com www.jelf.com www.aardvarkcertification.com Silage storage specialists ARK Agriculture launched a new range of glass reinforced plastic (GRP) bunding and spill containment solutions for the UK anaerobic digestion and agricultural sectors.

Pollution solution

Minimising digestate challenges

HRS Heat Exchangers showcased its novel Digestate Concentration System (DCS), which increases the dry solid content of digestate three-or four-fold, typically to between 10-20 per cent. By reducing the liquid fraction and therefore the overall volume of digestate produced, the DCS minimises the economic and logistical challenges associated with digestate storage, transportation and application. Up to 60 per cent less storage capacity is needed and fewer tanker loads are required, helping to curb an AD plant’s transportation costs and carbon footprint. www.hrs-heatexchangers.com

The lightweight and durable range of bunds, sumps and spill trays are designed for the long-term safe containment of intermediate

bulk containers oil drums and agrochemical containers and are suitable for all oils and 95 per cent of chemicals used on farms or anaerobic digestion plants. The systems ensure that such liquids will not enter water courses which could cause significant environmental pollution and hefty fines www.arkagriculture.com

It’s good to talk Martin Shannon, Commercial Services Manager at Cadent, the largest of the four Gas Distribution Networks in the UK, and readying to connect 50 new biomethane plants to the national grid, said the knowledge exchange and customer feedback at the Expo was invaluable. “I really welcomed the opportunity to showcase what we are doing at Cadent to decarbonise transport and our Jonathan McKeown fields questions about customers discussed their ambitions to connect onto our decarbonising the gas grid networks and increase the amount of green energy, to achieve the 2050 carbon reduction targets. We then asked how we can best support them and have come away with a range of short and long term activities which are being implemented in our teams.” www.cadentgas.com www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

SUPPORTING THE UK AD INDUSTRY IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

SAVE THE DATE: 11th december 2018 ADBA National Conference 2018

Register at: www.adbioresources.org/events/national-conference-2018 To sponsor/exhibit, contact: Roberta Bontempo T +44 (0) 20 3176 4414 E roberta.bontempo@adbioresources.org 32

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Advice clinic: Refinancing What to consider ahead of consolidating In our regular column, ADBA members provide answers to some common AD queries. In this edition we focus on refinancing, which was a hot topic at the UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018

Q A

As an on-farm operator I am interested in refinancing and consolidating. Is there much interest and what are investors looking for?

Large-scale investment in AD in the UK market was initially fed by a convergence of government-backed subsidies, tax-efficient capital and a reduction in yields from solar and wind assets. This led to a boom in construction of AD projects. However, in recent years we have seen the removal of renewable energy generating assets from qualification for taxefficient capital under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and a reduction in subsidy level from government. A prolonged period of low interest rates has also seen investors searching for returns and this has led to increased interest in renewable energy from institutional investors. As the AD market matures and de-risks we will see an increase in investors wanting to enter this space to replace the EIS capital as a source of funding. As these larger investors generally look to invest in ticket sizes of ÂŁ50m or more, there is a role for investment firms such as Ingenious to aggregate assets for these larger investors and manage the transactions and ongoing performance of the assets. The other source of funding for on-farm AD plants has been from banks, often through the landowners and farmers using the farm business as security. This has allowed banks to enter the market since they have security over land and other assets they know how to value and get comfortable with. This funding has allowed farmers to construct and operate AD sites; however, since the size of an AD investment relative to an average farm is quite large in financial

terms, this has meant that the farmer is not able to borrow any more against the farm. This can lead to a bottleneck in capital and means the farmer is unable to pursue other ideas or ventures, potentially missing out on further growing the farm business. A potential solution is to look to a specialist finance house who knows AD, the risks, the rewards and how to manage the asset to re-finance an on-farm AD plant and release capital back to the farmer. The farmer can then continue to grow their business. The investor is looking for steady, long-term yields and can get comfortable with the risks involved, so is well placed to replace the bank debt. The investor will be more than happy to look at re-financing plants where there is a solid track record of operational performance, a long-term feedstock contract, and opportunities for potential expansion/upgrades. Most important of all is a reliable counter-party who is pragmatic, resourceful and willing to work co-operatively to build a long-term relationship. The re-finance is generally for a majority. Minority positions can be considered, although from a due diligence point of view, the investor often needs to have control of the asset. This shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a problem for the farmer as the investor is after a long-term relationship, working together to make the most of the investment. A minority ownership from the farmer can be useful to assure the investor that their interests are aligned.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Dan Purvis, Senior Investment Manager, Ingenious Finance E danpurvis@theingeniousgroup.co.uk www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Advice clinic: Refinancing

Q A

As an AD operator, what should I consider when looking to refinance my plant?

there are problems with feedstock supply or the CHP unit or an AD plant breaks down, it might stop generating which means no income and probably a hefty cost.

Once an AD plant has been running for a few years and has a history of performance it is often possible to refinance at lower interest rates. As part of the process a valuation of the site will usually be required. Typically, when valuing property, market value is assessed by reference to the value of other open market sales (i.e. comparable evidence) of similar property. However, there are few, if any, direct comparables for AD sites. Each site is unique and, given the huge difference in subsidies, the value of almost identical projects commissioned at different times could vary substantially. Sales often involve sales of shares in special purpose vehicles as opposed to purely a property sale.

We need to consider the risks to a project and apply a suitable discount rate to provide a value for the site. If you are considering refinancing it is hugely beneficial to have early discussions as to what information will be required and then to have information easily accessible to make it easier for a valuer to understand the situation and be able to process this more quickly.

A potential purchaser will assess the possible incomes and costs of a scheme when considering what they will be willing to pay. It is therefore essential that a valuer considers the assumptions and data that the market would assume. This takes account of the projected revenues, including the support payments (Feed-in Tariffs, Renewable Obligation Certificates, Northern Ireland Renewable Obligation Certificates, Renewable Heat Incentive etc.) and revenue from sales of electricity/heat/gas and gate fees, as well as the costs of operating the plant.

Q A

This requires benchmarking and a detailed understanding of the market. There are very few Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-registered valuers who are able to provide red-book valuations of AD plants because they are so specialist and not many people have the relevant experience. When valuing an AD plant I have to have regard to the site ownership, lease agreements, and any other contracts such as feedstock agreements or digestate, operation and maintenance agreements. We look at the terms of those agreements, how secure they are and any obligations/restrictions. Feedstock security can be one of the main concerns to investors and so longerterm contracts provide certainty. We review the historic performance of a plant and how this might change over the lifetime of the incentives. Whilst funders have become more comfortable with plants which are already operational, there are still risks associated with AD plants that do not affect, for instance, solar PV sites. Once a solar farm is up and running there is little maintenance required. However, there are a number of things which can go wrong with an AD plant; if

Cath Anthony is a partner at property consultancy firm Bidwells E cath.anthony@bidwells.co.uk T 01223 559509 www.bidwells.co.uk Why should I apply for certification to the AD Certification Scheme, and what are the benefits the scheme delivers?

The AD Certification Scheme (ADCS) has been established to set a benchmark against which all AD plants in the UK can assess themselves. The scheme assesses five key areas: design and construction; health and safety; environmental management; operational performance; and maintenance management. The criteria covered within the scheme have been devised with input from a wide range of stakeholders in the AD sector, including regulators, insurers, consultants, engineers, financiers and operators, to ensure that the standard set by the scheme addresses the interests of these stakeholders. It is no secret that the AD sector along with the wider waste sector has been in the regulators’ spotlight due to pollution incidents and health and safety failings. This is what led to ADBA opting to develop the ADCS in order to provide a route to drive improvements in the AD sector and to set out a standard which, if achieved, will improve its overall performance. AD operators applying to the scheme are audited against each of the five areas and provided with a valuable review of their current performance in each, with specific recommendations on what actions are required in order to meet the scheme requirements. Completing these actions enables operators to improve operational performance, be aware of and address any shortcomings in the design of the plant, improve environmental and health and safety standards at their plant and achieve improved uptime. In addition to these improvements in the overall operations of the plant, operators achieving certification are able to access improved insurance cover at a reduced rate, the savings from which should at least cover the application costs to the scheme. Certification also allows operators access to better deals when it comes to refinancing and makes the plant more attractive to potential purchasers. As the certification body to the scheme we have seen these improvements being made across all plants which have undergone the audit process; they can now operate with full confidence in the systems they have in place. We would urge any interested operator to discuss the scheme with us further in order to fully understand the benefits they can achieve and savings they can realise through achieving certification. Nicholas Johnn MSc MIEMA CEnv, Director Aardvark Certification Ltd E nicholasjohnn&aardvarkcertification.com www.aardvarkcertification.com

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

R&I Update

‘Blue economy’ moves a step closer It is exciting times in the development of the ‘blue economy’ – the sustainable use of the world’s seas and oceans for economic benefit. A consortium of academics, businesses and the Crown Estate, who manage the UK seabed, have been developing the opportunity of growing seaweed for commercial purposes, with an initial focus on its use in anaerobic digestion (AD). It’s something that one of ADBA’s partners, the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), have been developing and telling us about for some years.

Making use of the sea has some obvious advantages over land for growing crops: think of all that energy-rich sunshine falling on the vast areas of sea, compared to the relatively small plots of land with multiple competing uses that farmers and society as a whole face. The downside is the cost of cultivation and harvesting, as well as storage. The consortia say that “meeting the cost targets of commercial seaweed farming is a major challenge”. They say current methods are “labour intensive, manual, favour small scale industry and are not geared up for an efficient use of time or money for large scale production”. Other challenges are in ensuring the process is environmentally sustainable, and that the seaweed digest speedily and effectively. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 19 million tonnes of aquatic algae is cultivated annually, with a value of $5.7 billion. To date, this has been largely in the East Asia region, with Europe too now taking a very keen interest in the area. The exciting time will be this autumn, when the Crown Estate, CPI and others will be sharing and discussing many of the results. We need to ensure government takes notice, and ensures the regulatory and policy levers are there to encourage this industry to take off. With some saying our heating system is too difficult to decarbonise, it is essential we make use of all the resources available to help produce biogas.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Technology Focus: Biomethane to grid

How to optimise biomethane output Charlie Thompson, Operations Manager with Amur – which owns and operates a 3MWe food waste digester – looks at the ‘tricky business’ of preparing biomethane for the national grid, critical to meeting regulations and ensuring effective plant operation, especially when dealing with food waste Ten years ago, anaerobic digestion (AD) in the UK was, without exception, an electric proposition. However, since the first biomethane plant plugged in to the National Grid in 2010, an increasing number have followed. There are now 80 gas-to-grid plants online and, under the latest Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) regime, an additional 49 are expected to be connected by 2020.

is typically made up of 50-60 per cent methane (CH4) and 50-40 per cent carbon dioxide (CO2) but it may also contain impurities such as oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, siloxanes or ammonia. Each operator will sign up to a network entry agreement (NEA) which specifies a testing regime to check for impurities.

While injecting biomethane into the grid can have a real impact – projections suggest it could meet 40 per cent of the UK’s gas demands – getting it right can be tricky. Operators need to comply with regulations, upgrade gas to meet network needs, and make sure they are protecting the plant from the damaging effects of substances such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S).

Regardless of the regime imposed by the network, regular monitoring is critical to effective plant operation. Tests analyse raw gas; feed gas; product gas, which goes to grid; and off gas, which is released into the atmosphere. Off gas must demonstrate less than 1 per cent methane slip; fluctuations can be an indicator of problems within the system.

Each AD operator has an obligation to meet the conditions of its Environmental Permit. These vary according to location, plant design and environmental receptors, but each permit sets out acceptable levels of emissions. Biomethane injected into the UK gas network must also meet specifications outlined in the Gas Safety (Management) Regulations (GSMR). Raw biogas

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

Checks against key performance indicators – such as methane concentration going to grid, calorific value of unenriched biogas, and the methane value of off gas – should be recorded daily and compared to long-term trends. Product gas should contain a bare minimum of 97 per cent methane. Gas impurities will reduce both the concentration of methane and the efficiency of the plant’s gas upgrader. This, in turn, will drive up costs, as additional levels of propane have to be added to compensate for lower methane levels.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Food waste plants are prone to high levels of VOCs – which have the potential to cause severe damage to engines and membrane filtering systems. Large changes in feedstock can result in a new VOC profile, so it is important to understand feedstocks and choose filtration systems accordingly. Meanwhile, wastewater plants may struggle with siloxanes. These compounds are residues from cosmetics. Found in waste water, they move through the gas pipes, depositing sand throughout the system, which can cause great damage to both the digester and end-user appliances. Tests can be performed by specialists, either on site or at a laboratory. There are many ways to test gas, with new developments in equipment under way. However, whatever the analysis regime and filtration system, the key is to ensure that tests take place at the right frequency. Operators need to understand their process and the associated risks make sure that critical control points are met and, when necessary, act swiftly.

Innovations in addressing biomethane contamination

The BioSense VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) is a new biogas analyser from Pentair, which has been developed over a period of extensive testing at ARN’s Weurt site in the Netherlands. During the first few months of biomethane production the plant struggled to meet its target output. Initial monitoring indicated Pentair’s BioSense VOC the majority of problems were a result of the poor quality of incoming biogas, resulting in both lower capacities and the product gas being rejected by the gas grid because the contamination levels were too high. To help ARN find a solution to this issue Pentair introduced a long-term monitoring programme in collaboration with Camlin, with the initial aim of improving the plant’s performance through a more cost-efficient contamination removal process. It was in this study phase that it became apparent that to achieve such a result would require a new device to monitor the quality of incoming biogas. The BioSense VOC is that device; a measuring system capable of monitoring contaminants such as ketones and terpenes in biogas. The analyser allows for the constant monitoring of biogas being generated so operators can essentially see in real time the impacts different feedstocks and microbiology are having on output. Pentair report from their findings the installation of a BioSense VOC analyser can result in a 10 per cent increase in biomethane production, a 30 per cent reduction in activated carbon, and greater plant efficiency as a result of avoiding downtime and reduced efficiencies of membranes. It was shortlisted for the Best Innovation in Biomethane award at this year’s AD&Biogas Industry Awards. Continued>> www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Technology Focus: Biomethane to grid Addressing the issue of biomethane contamination from a wholly different angle is the METHAGEN VPSA (Vacuum-Pressure Swing Adsorption) from Sysadvance – a specialist in the field of gas separation by adsorption. Adsorption describes the attachment of a chemical or biochemical atom, molecule, ion, or particle, to a surface. Established in 2002 as a spin-off company from a university R&D laboratory with over 40 years’ experience in gas separation technology, Sysadvance develop and manufacture on-site gas generation and gas purifiers. Over that period it has specialised in developing adsorption-based gas processing plants, now operating in over 40 countries. The company launched its Methagen project five years ago to tackle biogas contaminants beyond CO2. For biogas sourced from AD, Sysadvance developed the single-stage METHAGEN VPSA process (a double-stage unit was developed specially to treat landfill gas). Sysadvance’s Methagen VPSA

The unit, which can be built-in or added on to an existing AD unit, has at least four columns, each containing a combination of microporous adsorbent materials judiciously selected to improve the separation selectivity towards CH4. Patrick Barcia, R&D manager at Sysadvance, explained, “If we consider 1% as the O2 limit in biomethane for grid injection in the UK, which is a very relaxed limit when comparing to other countries, then our capacity to remove O2 allow us to easily treat raw biogas with up to 2.5% O2. This is very relevant for the AD operator in the UK as they often inject large amounts of pure oxygen in the digester headspace or biological scrubber, to convert the H2S molecule into elemental sulphur or for the sulphur oxidation bacteria to convert H2S into SO4. Therefore, there is a real need in the UK for upgrading systems with a strong O2 removal capacity.” He added that the process can also remove half of the nitrogen (N2) content from the raw biogas; N2 is sometimes a consequence of oxygen injection, and its rejection contributes directly to the improvement of the percentage of methane in the resultant biomethane that is to be injected. The METHAGEN VPSA comprises pre-treatment and desulphurisation, compression and drying (8bar), VOC and Siloxane removal, and methane enrichment by VPSA. Sysadvance say the process delivers biomethane with 98 per cent CH4 content, reaching typically more than 99 per cent CH4 recovery with an operational cost of 0.24 kWh/Nm3 of raw biogas. Over the past couple of years, Sysadvance has commissioned biogas upgrading plants in Europe and Nth. America, meeting the highest specifications in terms of heating value and O2 limits. www.pentair.com www.sysadvance.com

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Technology Focus: Biomethane to grid We’re preparing to connect you, say the UK’s 4 GDNs The UK’s four Gas Distribution Networks (GDN) are braced for a surge in activity, as plant developers look to take advantage of the Tariff Guarantee application process that came into effect in May’s RHI regulations. The tariff promise from Government removes uncertainty for investors, but comes with a strict deadline – it will only apply to plants commissioned by 31st January 2020. Now the GDNs – Cadent, SGN, Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities – are joining forces to enable and support this anticipated growth in green energy. Tina Hawke, design manager and lead in this area for Cadent, the biggest of the GDNs, told AD&Bioresources News, “We are working very closely with our customers to support providing information quickly, to help accelerate the review process, and to enable our customers to secure Tariff Guarantees. “The four GDNs are working together to standardise a number of elements of the design and commissioning process. We’ve set up a working group, through the Energy Networks Association, to develop a set of GDN standard specifications. These will bring huge benefits to our customers and the supply chain – a consistency in application irrespective of which GDN you’re working with. We plan to share this work with the industry during the summer.

“We are also exploring having a single, consolidated GDN project commissioning plan. Historically, we know that projects do not commission to the original dates. With the constraints on resources for this phase of projects, and with the high risk that many will seek to commission during the last quarter of 2019, we need to consider and manage our resources efficiently and effectively, to reduce any risk of not meeting the 31 January 2020 deadline. “We all have a vested interest to connect safely every biomethane plant. Biomethane is set for growth, providing safe, sustainable gas supplies for homes and businesses for decades to come, and helping to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.” For more information on how Cadent’s supports biomethane plant developers in realising their ambitions to connect into our network, see https://cadentgas.com/business-with-us/biomethane

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Members’ News & Views Iona Capital opens northern office

Hat-trick of contracts for CooperÖstlund

Iona Capital, the specialist environmental fund manager, is opening a northern office in York to increase its focus on its growing portfolio of biogas infrastructure assets in Yorkshire. Currently Iona has £75m of investments in nine facilities in Yorkshire, generating enough electricity in a year to power 12,400 homes, and enough gas to heat a further 5,600. The environmentally friendly energy plants save the equivalent of 37,300 tonnes of CO2 each year. The office will have a team of 25 in the region, with another 13 employed indirectly to support the business; many of these roles will be new appointments. Mike Dunn, co-founder of Iona, said, “Yorkshire is an increasingly important market for us. We not only have our portfolio of facilities in the county but also investors, such as West Yorkshire Local Authority Pension Fund, who are excited by our regionally based approach to renewable energy infrastructure. Mike Dunn York is also a great location within the region as it has excellent transport links which means we can easily visit our sites across the region and of course London is only two hours away by train.” Iona’s new office is based in Westminster Place, part of York Business Park. www.ionacapital.co.uk

Roadgas appoints new MD Roadgas, a key supplier of natural gas and bio-methane vehicle refuelling station infrastructure and Scania’s UK partner based in Nottingham, has recently appointed David Rix as its new Managing Director. Following his decision to retire after 37 years in the industry, Roadgas founding director Richard Barski said, “It is with real delight that I can announce the arrival Hello and goodbye (l-r): David Rix of David Rix. David brings over and Richard Barski 20 years of experience within the high-pressure cylinder industry and unparalleled expertise of delivering sustainable business performance. I am confident that David will drive Roadgas to achieve even greater business success.” Roadgas designs, manufactures and installs state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for companies to operate with both compressed and liquefied bio-methane, natural gas and other alternative vehicle fuels, and counts Nottingham City Transport, Stagecoach, Veolia and Container Ships, amongst its many clients. Committed to reducing the carbon footprint through the use of renewable energy, Roadgas works to implement environmentally conscious solutions that not only adhere to low emissions policies but also provide significant monetary savings. David Rix said, “Over the past 11 years, Roadgas has prided itself on delivering an unsurpassed service that not only offers bespoke refuelling solutions but saves businesses and communities significant sums of money whilst reducing air pollution. Now working independently, Roadgas is well placed to take advantage of the many opportunities that are being created in this exciting industry.” www.roadgas.co.uk

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

CooperÖstlund, the UK’s leading provider of gas engine specification and maintenance services, has announced a trio of new contract wins. The agreements will see CooperÖstlund deliver combined heat and power (CHP) servicing and maintenance provision for a number of leading anaerobic digestion (AD) sites around the UK. Malaby Biogas: In 2017, CooperÖstlund carried out a complete rebuild of Malaby’s 500 MWH MAN gas engine. Previously maintained in-house, a new agreement means the system will now be looked after by CooperÖstlund. Ixora Energy: In 2016, CooperÖstlund installed a number of IET engines to Ixora Energy sites across the UK. Since then, CooperÖstlund has delivered ongoing maintenance services. The contract has now been extended for an additional five years, to cover milestone servicing, call-outs, and remote monitoring. In addition, the contract includes six additional CHP engines on Ixora sites across the UK. Duranta: In 2014, CooperÖstlund provided wiring installation for Duranta’s new 5MW AD plant. Since then, servicing and maintenance has been managed elsewhere. However, Duranta has now awarded the CooperÖstlund team a six-year contract to take on full service and maintenance responsibility. Duncan McPherson, CEO at CooperÖstlund, said, “It’s fantastic that our hard work and dedication has led to new partnerships and opportunities to work with past clients. Our previous experience with each of the organisations gives me great confidence that our national servicing teams will make an immediate impact.” www.cooperostlund.co.uk

Fisher German sells Arreton AD facility to Foresight Group Leading property agency Fisher German has sold an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility in Arreton to leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager, Foresight Group. Fisher German, working as joint agents with BCM surveyors, acted on behalf of an entrepreneurial consortium to sell the site, considerably above the guide price. The standalone facility is based on a 24 acre site and converts biogas to biomethane as part of a gas-to-grid injection scheme. The energy captured on the site is then supplied to a local market as well as into the national gas grid. CO2, a by-product from the process is compressed and sold as well. Foresight Group purchased the site to add to its portfolio of renewable energy plants, and has established a market leading position in AD having previously invested into 25 greenfield and operational AD plants in the UK and Germany. www.fishergerman.co.uk

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Members’ News & Views

Digestate quality takes centre stage In June, ADBA’s Food Waste Operator Group (FWOG) met at Jelf Insurance Brokers’ office in Worcester. Chaired by Emerald Biogas’ Kevin Quigley, and with attendees from Agrivert, Severn Trent Green Power, Malaby Biogas, Biogen and Local Generation, the group shared their experiences and views on the hot topics affecting the sector. A key topic for discussion was digestate quality and this session was led by Dr David Tompkins from Aqua Enviro, an expert on this topic. There was a good discussion around how the AD industry can engage in the debate around feedstock contamination and work with other parties in the supply chain to improve the quality of food waste delivered to AD facilities. The group also shared views on different types of food waste caddy liners, i.e. plastic, compostable or paper; this is a fairly complex issue and one for ongoing work. We also discussed the potential for accessing new markets for digestate, for example horticulture, but the general perception seemed to be that the barriers are currently too significant.

In addition, the group heard from WRAP’s Mike Gardner, who spoke about their calculator tool, which can help operators and Local Authorities to improve capture rates together. The tool is freely available to download from WRAP’s website, and is a useful exercise in how both parties can work together and allocate costs in a fair way. Carl Gurney from Jelf Insurance Brokers, who hosted the meeting, and Jess Allan from ADBA provided an update on the AD Certification Scheme and the insurance benefits available to operators who get certified to the scheme. It was an engaging meeting and, as always, very useful for the ADBA policy team to hear the views of all the food waste operators who attended. Host, Carl Gurney of Jelf

From left: Dr David Tomkins, Kevin Quigley.

ADBA ATTENDS BIOWASTE REGULATORY FORUM In July, ADBA Environment & Regulation Manager Jess Allan attended the Biowaste Regulatory Forum, which brings together the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, environmental regulators, and industry bodies from AD, composting and mechanical biological treatment. Discussions covered the following topics: Containment failures: Overall, serious incidents have reduced to about nine per year across the whole biowaste sector. The Environment Agency (EA) is due to release the findings of its national AD audit project soon, which will set out the compliance and environmental performance of regulated and non-regulated AD plants. This has informed its current call for evidence on permitting, which generally proposes clearer, tighter permit conditions (see page 5). Feedstock and digestate: The importance of improving and maintaining high digestate quality to ensure market and regulatory confidence was discussed as a priority for the sector. Plastics: The EA is leading a project examining the sources, pathways and receptors of plastic pollution, and the regulatory levers that the EA could use to reduce this. This could involve looking at upstream sources in collaboration with local authorities, other waste producers, and waste processors.

For more information about biowaste regulation, contact ollie.more@adbioresources.org

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

We're sad to say that Jessica Allan, our Regulatory Affairs Manager, has moved on from ADBA to a new role as a Principal Consultant at WYG. Jess joined ADBA three years ago, on the day of our annual AD Trade Show in Birmingham. Following that fast-paced introduction into the world of AD, Jess then got to work on developing our Best Practice Programme for the industry, which culminated first in the publication of the Best Practice Checklists, and then in developing the Anaerobic Digestion Certification Scheme (ADCS), which has recently celebrated its second member reaching the high standards required to join the scheme. As well as developing the certification scheme, Jess has been ADBA's spokesperson on regulatory and environmental issues, which has involved responding to consultations undertaken by the Environment Agency and others, as well as supporting members with over 200 queries on environmental, permitting and other issues. It's been great to receive so much positive feedback about Jess in the time she was here. We're sad to see her go.

Upcoming PAS110 review: A review of the PAS110 standard for digestate quality is due at the end of 2018. This will determine whether revision of the standard is needed.

Farewell Jess

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

With Jess gone, I will be handling queries relating to regulatory and environmental aspects, so these can be sent to me at ollie.more@adbioresources.org

Best Practice Matters Environment Agency supports AD operators in improving environmental standards Later this year, the Environment Agency (EA) will be informally consulting on an ‘Assurance Framework’, which will enable the delivery of key recommendations from the Regulatory Futures Review published by the Cabinet Office regarding earned recognition and regulated self-assurance. There will be an opportunity to comment on the draft Framework.

the requirements of the Assurance Framework and to feed back on the types of incentives that may be attractive to operators who are eligible to participate in earned recognition and regulated self-assurance. Incentives may include reduced inspection frequency and, as a consequence, lower regulatory costs. Kathy Nicholls, the EA’s sector lead for biowaste, provided the following update:

The EA has already begun implementing a strategic five-year plan called ‘Performance Based Regulation’ which includes an exploration of ways to better recognise and reward sustained high performance through a range of incentives. This is a great opportunity for the AD sector, as for any industry schemes that can meet the requirements of the EA’s Assurance Framework, participating sites could be considered for earned recognition and regulated self-assurance. The AD industry now has a specific scheme up and running: ADBA’s AD Certification Scheme (ADCS), which covers environmental performance and is therefore well-positioned to consider aligning within the requirements of the Framework, enabling participants to take advantage of the range of incentives that will be on offer.

“We wholly support the work of ADBA and the other stakeholders in working towards improved environmental performance within the sector. The development of the AD Certification Scheme may be a route to enable AD operators to do this. Later this year the EA plans to engage with a wide range of stakeholders who can give us feedback on our Assurance Framework. The Framework will allow us to introduce earned recognition and regulated self-assurance across all of the regimes we regulate under Extended Producer Responsibility. We will be looking for views from the AD industry on how we can reward sites which can demonstrate sustained high performance. The more evidence there is that the AD Certification Scheme could meet the requirements of the Assurance Framework, the stronger the argument for regulatory recognition and reward.”

The EA has been very supportive of ADBA’s work, helping to develop parts of the scheme along with other stakeholders, voicing its support publicly, and hosting an operator workshop. ADBA is keen, however, to secure more tangible support from the EA that will provide a commercial benefit to operators who certify under the ADCS. ADBA has been in regular communication with the EA to discuss this, and later this year there will be a chance to comment on

This is clearly an exciting opportunity and ADBA will continue to champion the AD industry’s case to the regulators. If you’d like to get involved, please email ollie.more@adbioresources.org Finally, congratulations to Malaby Biogas, the second AD plant to become certified under the ADCS - and the first in England.

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Membership Matters Let’s drive this industry forward together Thank you to all those who participated in UK AD and World Biogas 2018, either as exhibitors, sponsors, speakers or delegates. It was a great opportunity to share the latest insight and demonstrate the strength of our marketplace – all especially important at this critical time for our industry. At the Expo, we also celebrated the winners of this year’s AD & Biogas Industry Awards. Congratulations to them (and the recipients of highly commended accolades)! The Expo is organised by ADBA and the World Biogas Association. We encourage you, as ADBA members, to add your personal stamp to this annual event by helping us shape its future content. What topics would you want to see covered? What products and services would you want to showcase? You can also get involved in our other upcoming events this year: look out for the next members’ meeting, Regulatory Forum, Finance Forum and National Conference. See details on page 46 And do let us know if you need a hand in setting up introductions with other members and stakeholders. We want to ensure that your business relationships thrive from the contacts you make through our activities. Finally, with our new membership year starting on 1st October, I want to thank all our members for supporting us as your trade association, and I look forward to working with you all again over the next 12 months.

Let’s drive this industry forward together. Contact Roberta Bontempo, Sales Manager, roberta.bontempo@adbioresources.org T +44 (0)203 176 4414

Supporting the UK AD industry in a rapidly changing world The ADBA National Conference returns this December at a time of major shifts in the UK and abroad. Climate change, Brexit, the end of the Common Agricultural Policy in the UK and other economic and environmental changes present the UK anaerobic digestion industry (AD) with both opportunities and threats for the future. The conference will discuss how we can build a strong, resilient and adaptable AD sector that will operate to the highest standards and thrive in the face of domestic and global challenges. As well as debating these strategic issues with leading industry figures, delegates will find out more about securing financial support for AD and biogas and maximising the operational performance of plants. Other key themes of the conference will include the development of on-farm AD, biomethane for transport and heat, technological innovation and best

practice. There will also be extensive opportunities to network and review the latest AD products and services with our exhibitors. A must-attend event for all AD professionals to find out how to navigate today’s choppy waters and grow AD into a booming and high-performing sector.

Lord Deben, better known to many as former Environment Secretary John Gummer, addressing ADBA’s National Conference last year.

The ADBA National Conference takes place on December 11 at One Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AA. Register to attend at https://bit.ly/2Pp8dfV For details about being an exhibitor or sponsor, contact E: roberta.bontempo@adbioresources.org T +44 (0)203 176 4414

WELCOME ROBERT

WELCOME JON

Robert Zlokower, Marketing Manager – ADBA Membership “I am very excited join ADBA in promoting the circular economy; to support the uptake of sustainability solutions, we need to spread awareness.”

Jon Hughes, Editorial Manager, AD&Bioresources News “I’m delighted to join ADBA, primarily for the opportunity to play a meaningful role in advancing a technology that can tackle the root causes of climate change, deliver additional benefits, such as soil restoration, and be an economic winner for the UK; we have first mover advantage in terms of operational skills and scaling up the key technology that is much in demand globally. This is the kind of greening of the economy we need, both practical and purposeful, and I’m excited about being able to help the industry present its case in the best light.”

Welcome new ADBA members! Biogastechnik Sud GmbH Sysadvance

SEM Energy Ltd

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

Ingenious

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

Membership Matters

Safety First Everyone has a part to play By Tina Benfield, Technical Manager, Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) At UK AD and World Biogas Expo 2018, I chaired a seminar on developing a safety culture in AD. As you would expect from a session on health and safety, there is more to consider than just the legislation. As everyone knows what the legislation sets out, this session highlighted some of the good practice that is out there – implementing the kind of health and safety regime that needs to be followed. Jane Gilbert, Director of Carbon Clarity, highlighted how important it was to train and communicate with employees so that they understand what is expected of them. Messages have to be easy to understand and so be memorable. The key is to get safety as a company culture, throughout the organisation, with full leadership. Susan Relf, Compliance Director with Agrivert, gave some insight into their practices and it was good to see that getting things wrong were seen as actions to learn from. Risk assessment should be easy to carry out, relevant, and task-based, she said. Employees should be encouraged to spot and report incorrect procedures and actions before they lead to a major incident and to take ownership and not play the blame game.

Amaya Aries-Garcia, Technical Director, Goals Project Management & Engineering Support, said ADBA has done excellent work in this area by developing the AD Certification Scheme (ADCS), with health and safety being a key factor in the scheme criteria. Amaya said health and safety should be considered throughout the AD process, right from design to full-scale operation. Amaya emphasised that if design through to commissioning does not take on board health and safety, there is trouble waiting. A poorly designed and commissioned plant leads to incidents and accidents during operation. Leadership was a common theme amongst the presentations and this was the message I gave about CIWM’s health and safety campaign that kicks off later this year – ‘this time it’s personal’. So, as we heard from Jane, Amaya and Susan, health and safety is not just about legislation – everyone has a part to play. CIWM is the leading institution for resources and waste management, providing training, industry news, membership, marketing opportunities and technical and career advice. To find out more, visit www.ciwm.co.uk To find out more about ADBA’s Anaerobic Digestion Certification Scheme, visit adcertificationscheme.co.uk

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

Upcoming Events ADBA Autumn Members’ Meeting 3rd Oct 2018

12:30–19:30

Ashurst, Broadwalk House, 5 Appold St, London, EC2A 2HA This free, member-only event gives you the chance to hear from government departments such as BEIS and DfT, as well as regulators including Ofgem, and to discuss the latest industry developments with our policy team.

9:00–13:00

Senior Policy Manager, Dr Thom Koller T +44 (0)203 176 0592 E thom.koller@adbioresources.org

Osborne Clarke, One London Wall, London EC2Y 5EB The ADBA Finance Forum meets twice a year to discuss the barriers and opportunities for AD plant funders. Representatives from different finance sectors will be present to review recent developments along with updates from our policy team.

Market Analyst, Emiliano Lewis T +44 (0)203 567 0751 E emiliano.lewis@adbioresources.org External Affairs Manager, Jon Harrison T +44 (0)203 176 0591 E jon.harrison@adbioresources.org PR & Parliamentary Affairs Executive, Chris Noyce T +44 (0)203 176 5441 E chris.noyce@adbioresources.org

ADBA National Conference 2018 11th Dec 2018

PA to Chief Executive/Database Assistant, Priya Gathani T +44 (0)203 567 1041 E priya.gathani@adbioresources.org Head of Policy, Ollie More T +44 (0)203 567 0751 E ollie.more@adbioresources.org

ADBA Finance Forum 13th Nov 2018

TEAM Chief Executive, Charlotte Morton T +44 (0)203 176 0503 E charlotte.morton@adbioresources.org

One Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA Climate change, Brexit and other economic and environmental changes present the UK anaerobic digestion (AD) industry with both opportunities and threats for the future. These latest developments, in addition to AD’s contribution to the development of a sustainable circular economy, will be at the heart of ADBA National Conference 2018. AD has significant potential to reduce emissions from heat and transport, whilst simultaneously supporting UK farmers and providing a management solution for food waste. Join us this year to discuss the drivers shaping our industry with politicians, policy makers and business leaders.

Sales Manager, Roberta Bontempo T +44 (0)203 176 4414 E roberta.bontempo@adbioresources.org Senior Sales Executive, Ellis Owen T +44 (0)203 960 0774 E ellis.owen@adbioresources.org Senior Sales Executive, Cristina Martins T +44 (0)203 176 0592 E cristina.martins@adbioresources.org Senior Events Manager, Nigel Kay T +44 (0)203 176 5440 E nigel.kay@adbioresources.org Events Admin & Production Assistant, Cheryl Murdoch T +44 (0)203 735 8118 E cheryl.murdoch@adbioresources.org Senior Marketing Manager, Jocelyne Bia T +44 (0)203 735 8117 E jocelyne.bia@adbioresources.org Marketing Manager – Membership, Robert Zlokower T +44 (0)203 960 0780 E robert.zlokower@adbioresources.org

Secure your place to the above events at http://adbioresources.org/events/

Finance Manager, Subi Nagendra T +44 (0)203 176 6962 E subi.nagendra@adbioresources.org

UK AD & Biogas Industry Awards 2019 3rd jul 2019

Accounts Assistant, Anthony Olasoji T +44 (0)203 176 0503 E anthony.olasoji@adbioresources.org

The Vox, Birmingham Our annual black tie industry awards ceremony will celebrate outstanding contributions to the AD and biogas industry, both in the UK and globally, across 16 categories. The event offers an excellent opportunity to network with industry leaders and pioneers. Tickets include a drinks reception, three course meal and entertainment. Book your ticket at www.adbioresources.org/events/awards

AD Finance, Bruce Nelson, Director of Compass Renewables T +44 (0)1732 464495 E bruce@compassbusinessfinance.co.uk Jelf Insurance Team T +44 (0)1905 892356 E adba@jelfgroup.com Editorial Manager – ADBA and AD&Bioresources News, Jon Hughes T +44 (0)203 176 0590 E jon.hughes@adbioresources.org

UK AD and World Biogas Expo 2019 3-4th jul 2019

NEC, Birmingham

FAREWELL DESIREE

The largest international trade show dedicated to the AD and biogas industry reviews the latest market news, sector by sector and showcases the latest innovations and technologies. In this, ADBA’s 10th Anniversary year, it promises to be the best ever, as the industry gears up to address the demand for clean energy, clean fuel and the anticipated introduction of compulsory food waste collections in the UK. Registration is free – get your ticket at www.biogastradeshow.com

Our Programme Producer Desiree De Cecchis, who was responsible for delivering the prestigious and industry-leading roster of speakers at this year’s UK AD & World Biogas Expo 2018, has sadly left us. She will be much missed by all at ADBA and we wish her well in her new role.

Stop Press - Further Events now confirmed Late February 2019 – Scottish National Conference – Glasgow Early March 2019 – ADBA Spring Members' Meeting Late April – Cleantech Innovate – London Find out more at www.adbioresources.org

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018

FAREWELL JINNA Over the summer, we sadly had to say goodbye to our Marketing Manager Jinna Sidhu, who has taken up a role in a leading events management organisation. Thank you Jinna for all your work for ADBA and best of luck in the new job!

www.adbioresources.org adbioresources.org

autumn 2018 | AD & Bioresources News

AD & Bioresources News | autumn 2018