Green Gas Support Scheme: mid-scheme review

Update 21 October 2023

We announced that we intend to extend the Green Gas Support Scheme to 31 March 2028 via the Mid-Scheme Review.

We intend to publish our full government response this winter.

The Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) provides tariff-based support for biomethane produced using anaerobic digestion (AD) and injected into the gas grid, as a direct replacement for natural gas. The scheme opened for applications on 30 November 2021 and at present runs to 30 November 2025.

In March 2021, we committed to a mid-scheme review of the GGSS to consider the effectiveness of the scheme and review several areas for potential amendments. In this consultation, we’re seeking views on our proposals for policy amendments as part of the mid-scheme review, and aim to implement any amendments during the 2023-2024 financial year.

Areas under consideration include issues we previously committed to reviewing in our Future Support for Low Carbon Heat and the Green Gas Levy: Government Response. We are also consulting on additional aspects of the scheme.

The areas for consultation include:

• the scheme’s close date
• how we will treat tariff guarantee and commissioning deadlines
• the waste feedstock threshold
• the scheme mitigation requirements for digestate emissions
• the eligibility of Combined Heat and Power plant conversions to biomethane injection
• heat deductions from total eligible biomethane
• fugitive methane emissions monitoring and mitigation

Additionally, we are gathering views on a future biomethane policy framework which would follow the GGSS.

Our proposals continue to be focused on providing support for biomethane injection, as per the original intent of the scheme. This consultation invites responses on these proposals from stakeholders to inform our final decisions on the recommendations for this mid-scheme review.

Identifying impacts from food and farm digestates report

Alongside this consultation, we have published the Identifying impacts from food and farm digestates report. The report was commissioned in 2021 by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to inform the mid-scheme review of the Green Gas Support Scheme in order to better understand the potential environmental impacts of the generation and use of the digestate from AD. This was particularly in reference to the potential effects from digestate on air, soil and water quality from components such as ammonia, nitrates and plastic.

The report sets out the evidence gathered for options to mitigate:

• ammonia emissions from digestate during storage and use
• methane emissions during digestate storage
• plastic contamination of digestates

See our consultation privacy notice.