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Eight biomethane producers have been certified to supply enough green gas for 30,000 homes or the equivalent.
Barrow Green Gas has signed up seven more farms to produce biogas for injection into the grid by 2015, following a flagship project opened by the Prince of Wales at Rainbarrow Farm, Poundbury in 2012.
These schemes produce methane from organic matter through anaerobic digestion, in a renewable process that reduces carbon emissions compared to burning conventional gas. The resulting biomethane enters the grid and can be used for home heating and cooking, industrial purposes or transport fuel.
Renewable Energy Assurance Limited (REAL) independently tracks the biogas from injection to end use, so suppliers can sell it as “green gas” to customers wishing to support the fledgling industry.
To encourage more projects to take part in the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS), REAL has slashed its fees by 75 per cent, to 0.01p/kWh. That will save Barrow Green Gas £120,000 a year once all eight projects are up and running.
REAL chief executive Virginia Graham said: “As a not-for-profit scheme, we are proud that it is our participants who decide how to recycle GGCS income for the benefit of the industry. This year they’ve decided to reduce the gas volume fees, making it cheaper for new and existing suppliers alike to deliver certified green gas to end users. As the industry continues to grow, we will look at other uses for these revenues, such as research funding or skills development in this vibrant young sector of the low carbon economy.”
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