The Impact of Renewable Energy Policies on the Adoption of Anaerobic Digesters with Farm-Fed Wastes in Great Britain

Baboo Gowreesunker,Savvas Tassou

doi:10.3390/en9121038

Baboo Gowreesunker, Savvas Tassou

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en9121038

Copy DOI

Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Dec 9, 2016
Citations: 10	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Energy, Brunel University London

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of the feed-in tariff (FiT) and renewable heat incentive (RHI) schemes on the adoption of anaerobic digesters (AD), and the potential energy generation from farm-fed wastes in Great Britain. This paper adopts a linear programming model, developed in the International Energy Agency (IEA) TIMES platform, aiming to quantify the degree of adoption of AD and the type of energy generation technologies that can be driven by digester biogas to reduce farm energy costs. The results show that the adoption of AD is cost-beneficial for all farms, but different rates of the FiT and RHI schemes will influence the competitiveness between the implementation of combined heat and power (CHP) systems and the utilisation of biogas to only generate heat. The choice of technology is further dependent on the electricity/heat use ratio of the farms and the energy content of the feedstock. The results show that pig farms will more readily adopt CHP, because of its relatively higher electricity-to-heat use ratio, compared to other types of farms, which will favour biogas boilers.

Highlights

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has expressed concerns over global food security due to the projected increase in population, urbanisation, diet diversification and climate change
The adoption rate of anaerobic digesters (AD) in different animal farms with respect to different feed-in tariff (FiT) and renewable heat incentive (RHI) rates is quantified by the amount of biogas generated and consumed on the farms, while the self-sufficiency quantified by the amount of biogas generated and consumed on the farms, while the self-sufficiency rate is portrayed by the reduction in grid electricity and fuel consumed by the farms
The base cases for all farm types refer to the current rates of FiT and RHI, which changes along the rates

Summary

Introduction

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has expressed concerns over global food security due to the projected increase in population, urbanisation, diet diversification and climate change. The UK Climate Change Act 2008 has set an ambitious target to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% in 2050, as well as generating 15% of the energy from renewable sources by 2020 [2], compared to 1990 levels In line with both food security concerns and the UK GHG emissions reduction targets, agriculture represents a significant sector that needs attention in order to address future food and energy issues. With respect to the total agriculture emissions, it is estimated that fertiliser use contributes 53%, enteric fermentation 30%, combustion processes 9%, and manure management 8% [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion