UK plans to boost biofuel use to 9.75% in long-awaited consultation

LONDON (ICIS)–The UK government published a much-anticipated consultation on strategy for renewable fuels on Tuesday, revealing plans to increase the amount of biofuels to 9.75% by volume in 2020.

The consultation puts forward three main proposals: a maximum cap on fuels from food crops, a focus on ‘development’ fuels and backing for waste-based fuels.

The plans relate to a key mechanism for supporting biofuels, the RTFO or Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. This was set up to meet EU targets for increasing sources of renewable energy in the transport sector. The UK target was for 4.75% of road fuels to come from biofuels.

Through the RTFO scheme, suppliers can claim certificates by supplying renewable fuel and multiple certificates may be earned for biofuels supplied made from wastes and residues; biofuels from wastes and residues are “double-counted”, and get two credits or RTFCs per litre of fuel supplied.

So far this only rewards renewable fuels of biological origin, such as bioethanol derived from wheat.

Under the plans, this would be expanded: to support alternatives to fossil fuels for the aviation sector, and fuels from non-biological feedstocks.

Examples include hydrogen produced from electrolysis of water using renewable electricity; or methanol via catalytic fuel synthesis of renewable hydrogen.

Any non-bio renewable fuels would have to deliver at least the same minimum greenhouse gas savings as biofuels, suggests the consultation document.

This comes after Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Greg Clark positioned electric cars as at the heart of the government’s industrial strategy at a meeting with automotive leaders including Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralf Speth a week ago, reported the Guardian newspaper.

Acknowledging the ambition for every new car and van bought in the UK to be zero emission by 2040, UK Transport Minister John Hayes said biofuels were needed to bridge the gap to this point.

“As we transition to electric cars, we will continue to need low carbon liquid and gaseous fuels for decades to come, particularly to decarbonise transport sectors that are not as easy to electrify, such as planes and lorries,” he wrote in the foreword of the consultation.

The strategy aims to create a “positive investment environment beyond 2020 to further encourage the development of waste-based and advanced fuels, while limiting the use of fuels made from crops,” he wrote.

“This should provide a firm platform for the development of sustainable advanced fuels, whilst ensuring costs are tightly controlled in line with developments in the market,” added the minister.

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