2016

 

Government commits to the long-term use of renewable liquid fuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

2017

Government reaffirms commitment to the use of renewables over fossil fuels via electric and hybrid vehicles

2018

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) legislation was amended on the 15th of April 2018. The UK’s major fuel suppliers are now obligated to increase their supply of sustainable biofuel from 4.99 vol% in 2018 to 10.64 vol% in 2020 and 10.96 vol% by 2032. An additional sub-target for “development fuels” has also been introduced that aims to promote waste derived biofuels and certain fuels that are of non-biological origin. The target is initially set at 0.11 vol% in 2019 but will rise steadily to 3.2 vol% by 2032. Renewable aviation fuels also now qualify under the legislation.

The European Union’s Circular Economy Package was approved by the European council of ministers on the 22nd of May 2018. This was the final stage required to bring the legislation into law. Member states will have to meet recycling targets of 55% by 2025 and 65% by 2035. Whilst the UK is in the process of leaving the EU, there is already a UK target in place of 50% by 2020 and it is widely expected that the UK Government will adopt the EU legislation fully at a later date.

In February 2018, new RHI regulations were proposed by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. Subject to parliamentary approval, these regulations are expected to come into force in Spring 2018. Tariff guarantees will be available for biomass CHP, geothermal and biomethane applications of all sizes, as well as for biomass over 1MWth, biogas over 600kWth and ground source heat pumps and water source heat pumps over 100kWth.

As of 20 June 2018, the RHI regulations will require biomethane applicants to specify the biogas production plant to be used for the purposes of RHI registration and to confirm that the equipment used to produce biomethane has been commissioned. The aim of this particular change is to remove the process of staggered commissioning for biomethane plants.

On the 20th of July 2018, the UK Government announced plans to axe the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme from April 2019 onwards. It does not intend to replace the initiative and there will be no grace period for those projects in oversubscribed deployment caps queuing beyond the closure date of 31st March 2019. The date has been set for both export and generation tariff.