Biomass Sustainability in the UK
Jasmine Killen: Senior Manager – Fuelling and Sustainability

Agenda--Introduction to Ofgem E-Serve
Summary of biomass use and import of solid biomass in UK
UK’s background of sustainability criteria implementation
What are the sustainability criteria- Land criteria for non woody biomass- Land criteria for woody biomass (including regional risk based approachand 70/30 threshold)- Greenhouse gas (GHG) criteria
Consignments
Mass balance
Fuel Classification
Reporting and compliance
Sustainability reporting to date2Introduction to Ofgem•Ofgem is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. We are a non-ministerial
government department and an independent National Regulatory
Authority.

•Ofgem E-Serve is responsible for administering green energy and social
schemes on behalf of the government. These range from renewable energy
incentives to energy efficiency and social programmes.

•The Renewables Obligation (RO) is one of the main support schemes forlarge-scale renewable electricity generation in the UK. It puts an obligation
on licensed electricity suppliers to source a proportion of their supply fromrenewables.

•We administer this scheme on behalf of the Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
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Summary of Biomass use under the RO•

Biomass is defined as something that has at least 90% by energy content derived
from plant matter, animal matter, fungi, algae or bacteria. Can be solid, liquid orgas.
Origin of solid biomass used from 2011-12 to 2014-15(excluding waste)4

Biomass use in the UK Continued
Types of wood used from 2011-12 to2014-15 (excluding wastes)

Stations used approximately 165.9 million m3of biogas, 152.1 million liters of bioliquid and10.4 million tonnes of solid biomass forelectrical generation in 2014-15

Types of non-wood solid Biomass
used from 2011-12 to 2014-15(excluding wastes)5

Biomass sustainability in the UK2009

Sustainability first introduce into the RO
Profiling information to the authority

2011

Bioliquids must meet RO sustainability criteria to gain ROCs andverification – audit report
RO adopted mandatory reporting for solid biomass and biogas stations>50kW as of Apr 2011 but does not link to support – only profilinginformation

2014

Mandates that solid biomass and biogas stations with a TIC ≥ 1MW arerequired to submit an annual sustainability audit report
For wood – introduction of Timber Standard and additional profilinginformation

2015

ROC linkage for solid biomass and biogas stations ≥1MW
Introduction of the greenhouse gas (GHG) annual averaging mechanism
Changes to wood profiling questions
Timber Standard written into legislation
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What are the sustainability criteria?
The sustainability criteria have come from the European Renewable Energy
Directive (RED) and are written into the UK’s legislation. It has two parts:
1 Land criteria – This focuses on the land from which the biomass was sourced. The
aim is to protect areas of high biodiversity and high carbon stock. The legislation
sets out prohibited land types for non woody biomass, and forest management
requirements for woody biomass.
2 Greenhouse Gas criteria – This accounts for the life-cycle greenhouse gas
emissions of the biomass using a set methodology.

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“Introduced through theRenewable Energy
Directive (RED) for
bioliquid sustainability
Criteria”

Land Criteria for non-woody biomass•RO land criteria for non-woody biomass prohibits sourcing
biomass from certain land types, known as a protected source.

Biomaterial is obtained from a protected source if it has come fromland which:•••

At any time during or after January 2008 the land was a primary
forest or land designated for nature protection purpose,
At any time in January 2008 was a highly biodiverse grassland,
or a peatland,
Was a former continuously forested area, former lightly forested
area or a former wetland

Where a land use change has occurred that is not permitted under the land criteria, the biomass has
not met the land criteria.
Compliance with this criteria can be shown by aerial photographs, satellite images, maps, Land
Register entries/databases, and site surveys.

8Land Criteria for woody biomass
Woody Biomass should come from a sustainable source to meet the land criteria. Sustainable
Source is defined within Schedule 3, Article 6 of the ROO 2015.
There are two parts to showing the wood is from a Sustainable Source:1.) Meeting the sustainability requirements by showing that:- Harm to ecosystems is minimised- The productivity of the area is maintained- The health and vitality of ecosystems is maintained- Biodiversity is maintained- Those responsible for the management of the area comply with the local and national laws
relating to health and safety and welfare of the workers and have regard to the legal, customary
and traditional rights of tenure and land use.
- There is regular assessment of the extent to which the above requirements are met.
2.) The wood is grown in an area that is managed in a way that is consistent with the Forest Europe
Sustainable Forest Management criteria or another set of international principles that meet therequirements.

9Land Criteria for woody biomass continued
Regional Risk Based Approach•Compliance to the Sustainable Source criteria can be met at a regional level (i.e. does not haveto be met at the forest level). Have to have sufficient credible evidence that there is a low riskof non-compliance with the sustainable source criteria for a defined region. All wood has to be
traceable back to a region/supply base.

A region can be defined as the largest area in which reliable and independent information isavailable so show that conditions are sufficiently homogenous to evaluate the risk of noncompliance with the sustainable source criteria. For instance in a single region it is expected thatthe following should be the same:-Legislation covering land ownership, use and harvesting rights
Legislation covering biodiversity, water, air and soil protection
Legislation covering basic labour rights and health and safety of forest workers
Legislation covering waste handling and disease control
Legislation covering tress felling licensing and replanting/regeneration requirements.

10Land Criteria for woody biomass continued
70/30 Threshold• 70/30 refers to the threshold of sustainable wood to unsustainable wood. i.e. 70%of the wood used has to meet the sustainable source criteria. 100% of the woodused has to be legal and meet the EU Timber Regulation.
• The 70% threshold can be on a consignment basis or on the total wood burnt in thereporting period (for the RO this is a month).

Compliance to the sustainable source criteria can be demonstrated by:- Woody Biomass Category A evidence – FSC or PEFC
- Woody Biomass Category B evidence – bespoke evidence
Ofgem E-serve conducted a benchmarking exercise and the Sustainable Biomass
Partnership met all the sustainable source criteria and can be included as Category
A evidence.
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Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Criteria
Account for life-cycle GHG emissions of biomass. There are different GHG units andthresholds depending on the fuel type:- Solid biomass and biogas is on Carbon intensity (gGHG/MJ electricity)- Bioliquids is as a percentage saving against the fossil fuel comparator

Transport anddistribution
Processing

Cultivation

Current thresholds:
Bioliquid = 35%
Solid biomass/biogas = 79.2 gGHG/MJ e.

Methodology full cycle analysis

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Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Criteria continued
There are three calculation methods:-Default values – values included in the legislation,-Actual values – methodology set out in Part C of Annex 5 of the RED. Calculates
each step of the life cycle separately (i.e. cultivation, processing, transport etc.)-Mixed value method – uses both default and actual method (only for bioliquids).
Bioliquid
production
pathway
Sugar beetethanol
Sugar caneethanol

Default
carbonintensity (CI)
[gCO2eq/MJ]

Disaggregated default values [gCO2eq/MJ]
TransportandCultivation Processingdistribution

GHG saving[%]

401226252%

24141971%

Biomass Production Pathway
Wood chips from forest residues (Europeantemperate continental forest)
Wood chips from short rotation forestry(European temperate continental forest)

Default carbon intensity (CI) [gCO2eq/MJ
feedstock]1
413

Consignments•

Fuel needs to be reported per consignment and a consignment is based on the‘sustainability characteristics’ of the material.

•Ofgem E-serve consider the following characteristics should be taken into accountwhen determining consignments:o Country of origin
o Feedstock type (e.g. wood, used cooking oil, food waste)o Biomass form (solid biomass only)
o Classification of the fuel (waste, residue, product etc.)
o Compliance with land criteriao Compliance with GHG criteria

Determining a consignment is important because sustainability information isgathered and reported against the consignment. What needs to be reported canchange based on the fuel classification of the consignment.
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Mass balance•Mass balance is a system in which sets of sustainability characteristics remain
assigned to consignments. The sum of all consignments withdrawn from themixture is described as having the same sustainability characteristics, in the samequantities, as the sum of all consignments added to the mixture. I.e. you can nothave more output of a certain consignment then you had input.

•Mass balance systems are only needed where consignments are being mixed (thiscould be on site or in the supply chain). A mass balance system is used to ensurethat the biomass and its associated sustainability information is verifiable.

•There are two types of mass balance systems that can be used:- Proportionate- Non proportionate

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Proportionate mass balance system
Opening stock = 1000t

Opening stock = 1000t
400t “B”

400t “B”
600t “A”

Non- Proportionate mass balance system

Fuel combusted in amonth = 400t

600t “A”

Fuel combusted in amonth = 400t

160t “B”
240t “A”

400t “A”

Closing stock = 600t

Closing stock = 600t

240t “B”

400t “B”

360t “A”

200t “A”

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Fuel Classification
Fuel Category

BIOLIQUIDLand Criteria
GHG Criteria

SOLID BIOMASS / BIOGAS
Land Criteria or
GHG Criteria
Timber Standard

Waste

ExemptEmissions during and fromthe process of collection
only

ExemptExemptProcessing residues

ExemptEmissions during and fromthe process of collection
only

Exempt from land criteria

Emissions during andfrom the process ofcollection only

If wood then must reportagainst timber standard

Residues fromagriculture

Reporting required

Emissions during and fromthe process of collection
only

Reporting required

Emissions during andfrom the process ofcollection only

Residues fromforestry

Reporting required

Full life-cycle emissions

Reporting required

Residues fromarboriculture

N/A

N/A

For non-woody biomass:from land criteria

Emissions during andfrom the process ofcollection only
Emissions during andfrom the process ofcollection only

Residues fromaquaculture andfisheries
Products, coproducts

Reporting required

Full life-cycle emissions

For woody biomass:deemed sustainable andmeets land criteria forwoody biomass
Reporting required

Reporting required

Full life-cycle emissions

Reporting required

Emissions during andfrom the process ofcollection only
Full life-cycle emissions

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Reporting and compliance• Generators report against the land criteria and GHG criteria every month when they
provide information to us on the fuels used and their electricity generation.
• On a monthly basis we do not require evidence they have met the criteria, instead,at the end of the year operators are required to submit an ‘Annual Sustainability
Report’.
- This report is carried out by an auditor independent to the generating station,and they verify the sustainability information that has been reported to us on amonthly basis.
- The audit is carried out in accordance to the ISAE 3000 (Revised) standard.
- If the report is not submitted or it is found that fuel has been used that has not
met the sustainability criteria, we would suspend support under the scheme
until the information had been provided or we have recouped the payments
associated with the unsustainable fuel.
• Stations are also required to submit profiling data annually, which is additionalsustainability information related to their fuel. We publish this data on our website.
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Sustainability to date
• In the UK, reporting against the sustainability criteria has been mandatory since2011 for renewable electricity stations under the Renewables Obligation.
• Since 2011, support has been linked to the criteria for bioliquids (i.e. bioliquids
had to meet the criteria in order to be given support), but was not linked forsolid and gas fuels.
• In October 2015 meeting the criteria became mandatory for biomass used in theRenewable Heat Incentive scheme• In December 2015 meeting the criteria became mandatory for solid and gas stations
greater than or equal to 1 Megawatt under the RO.
• The UK was the first EU member state to introduce sustainability criteria for solidbiomass and biogas, and it is expected that the EU will implement mandatory criteria
for solid biomass and biogas sometime between 2020 and 2030.

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