Guidance: The Renewables Obligation: the biomass co-firing and conversion exempt combustion unit estimate, 2018 to 2019

The Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2018 came into force on 20 July 2018. It strengthens cost control measures for certain biomass conversion and co-firing stations by implementing annual flexible caps on the amount of support that units not protected by grandfathering policy can receive.

The caps come into operation from 1 September 2018 and apply to 2 types of biomass co-firing and conversion stations:

• capped generating stations, which comprise only non-grandfathered ‘capped’ units’
• mixed generating stations, which comprise non-grandfathered ‘capped’ units and grandfathered ‘exempt’ units

This explanatory note explains how both types of cap will operate during 2018 to 2019 and announces the level of the 2018 to 2019 exempt combustion unit estimate which will form part of the overall station cap for mixed generating stations.