The Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) has launched a new AD certification scheme aimed at supporting operators of AD plants.
The trade body said the voluntary scheme would improve the operational, environmental and health and safety performance of facilities.
The scheme was trialled by on-farm, food waste and on-site plants.
Charlotte Morton, ADBA Chief Executive, said: “ADBA’s new AD Certification Scheme defines good practice and enables AD plants to be recognised as meeting it. A certification process is essential to ensuring that regulators, insurers and investors have confidence in the scheme, which offers AD operators a range of financial and regulatory benefits.”
Duncan McPherson, finance director at energy specialist CooperOstlund, said the certification could be a breath of fresh air for the UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) and biogas industries.
“Since the introduction of government-driven subsidies for generating renewable energy, including the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and the Renewables Obligation (RO), anaerobic digestion (AD) has quickly shifted from innovative thinking to established technology. In fact, the number of UK AD facilities has grown by nearly 500% in five years – from 100 in 2013, to 578 in 2017,” he said.
“Although continued degressions have seen this figure seemingly decelerate, more than 100 million tonnes of organic material is now treated by AD every year. Alongside diverting resource away from landfill and offsetting carbon emissions, this generates enough energy to power one million homes nationwide.”
Privilege Finance, an AD financer, added that the scheme would allow independent operators to demonstrate their credibility when seeking finance.
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