Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is of growing importance within the UK as it can make an important contribution to the countries energy and climate change targets. With the growth of the sector, discussions about competing land uses are likely to increase. For a better understanding of the synergies between agricultural land, its role and bioenergy the perception of the different stakeholders will play an important role. The perception of stakeholders related to AD, feedstock and energy crop production was investigated through interviews and a stakeholder workshop. The results indicated that from an AD operator and feedstock producer perspective, on-farm AD is more an additional activity integrated into existing agricultural systems than a renewable energy technology. The risk of a shift in agricultural practices and large areas to grow energy crops for AD is seen as low for the UK. Nonetheless, land use and related challenges need to be considered as the demand for AD feedstocks increases with the fast growth of the sector. Considering the synergies between bioenergy and agriculture as well as the motivations and benefits perceived by stakeholders will play an important role in a successful policy design to provide the required emission reduction in both sectors without subverting sustainability.
Highlights
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a technology of growing importance within the UK's bioenergy sector
It is projected that the annual demand for land to produce purpose grown crops (PGC) for AD will increase to about 1% of the UK's arable cropping land until 2020 (NNFCC, 2015)
It can be concluded that the AD sector is still developing in the UK
Summary
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a technology of growing importance within the UK's bioenergy sector. At the same time it evokes a discussion about competing land use for food or bioenergy feedstock production (ADBA, 2012; Defra, 2015a; FoE, 2014; Havlik et al, 2010; Styles et al, 2014). This is mainly the result of experiences made in countries with a large AD sector such as Germany, France, Denmark or Italy (Defra, 2011) and experiences made with other bioenergy applications and 1st generation biofuels in relation to land use change (ADBA, 2011; Defra, 2011; FoE, 2014).
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