Grants of £4m for biomass and CHP installations

07 January 2010

Government funding has become available for business and community organisations, such as schools and hospitals, to help towards the cost of buying and installing biomass-fuelled heating and combined heat & power projects in England.

£4m is available overall under Round 6 of the Bio-energy Capital Grants scheme, with grants up to £500,000 on offer to individual projects. These would pay for up to 40% of the difference in cost between a biomass boiler and its fossil fuel alternative. Launching Round 6, Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Hunt said: "As the world works towards a global deal on Copenhagen, back in Britain we are continuing to find greener ways to do business. We expect bio-energy to supply a third of our renewable energy by 2020 and these grants will help support that. By March 2011 we plan to have 200 additional boilers installed, generating 87MW of biomass heat and over 72,000 tonnes of annual carbon savings.”
The Bio-energy Capital Grants scheme will make up funding available to organisations who wish to install biomass boilers or Combined Heat and Power systems, including anaerobic digesters. These create energy from biomass such as wood chips and miscanthus, or from waste. The scheme has already assisted the installation of 458 biomass boilers in a wide range of buildings in both the private and public sectors.Nottinghamshire County Council have installed biomass boilers in over 50 schools in the county under the scheme. There was also a grant to support the 2MW biomass installation at Stansted Airport.
For full details and how to apply for the grants visit www.bioenergycapitalgrants.org.uk[external
Applications to the Bio-energy Capital Grant Scheme are welcome from industrial, commercial and community sectors in England. This includes public and private limited companies, from pubs, clubs, shops or farms, to offices, supermarkets and stately homes right through to large businesses like breweries or airports. Community organisations like schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, local authorities, housing associations and charities can also apply.
The scheme is open to new applications until at least 31 March 2010. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis, as and when they are received. Applications can only be made by the ultimate owner of the biomass boiler or CHP plant. The maximum single award is £500,000 per installation. Applications covering several installations can apply for up to £500,000 for each installation. There is no minimum award threshold.
The boiler or CHP plant must be fuelled by eligible biomass. For the purposes of this scheme, this is defined as fuel of which at least 90 percent of the energy content is derived from plant or animal matter or substances derived directly or indirectly from that (whether or not such matter or substances are waste). It includes, but is not restricted to: purpose-grown energy crops; clean wood fuel derived from forestry operations, arboricultural tree management and primary processing, including saw milling; wood waste and residues, agricultural residues and food industry wastes and residues where these are n