Proposals to ensure sustainability and affordability for the use of biomass under the Renewables Obligation

Details of the government’s decisions on Part B are set out in the government response which was published on 18 December and can be found below. We expect the Government response on Part A, sustainability to be published by spring 2013.

The consultation invited views on the proposed improvements to the biomass sustainability criteria set under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and proposed measures to ensure affordability and value-for-money.

As part of the biomass value-for-money and affordability consultation, and specifically in the context of the proposal to limit dedicated biomass, respondents raised a number of queries in regards to the methodology used to calculate the relative cost effectiveness of biomass technologies presented in the Bioenergy Strategy. This note aims to address the issues raised, and test our conclusions, by building on the cost effectiveness calculation included in the Bioenergy Strategy.