16/12/15 - Early Engagement for a concession to administer the RHI Biomass Suppliers List

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is a long-term financial support programme for renewable heat. The RHI pays participants to generate and use renewable energy to heat commercial buildings and homes.

From 5 October 2015, participants in both RHI schemes must demonstrate that the fuel they use meets sustainability criteria to continue to receive payments under the scheme. The sustainability criteria were introduced to safeguard the Government’s carbon and environmental objectives. The criteria consist of Greenhouse gas criteria (GHC) and Land use criteria. See the BSL website for more information on the sustainability criteria.

http://biomass-suppliers-list.service.gov.uk/

To provide a straightforward compliance route for Domestic RHI (DRHI) and Non-Domestic RHI (NDRHI) participants, the Government created the Biomass Suppliers List in April 2014. The Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) is an approved list of solid woody biomass fuels that meet the RHI sustainability criteria. For Domestic RHI (DRHI) participants, using a fuel from the BSL is the only available compliance route. For those on the Non- domestic RHI scheme, participants can also self-report against the GHG and land criteria, although the majority use the BSL.

Administering the BSL currently involves many operational tasks including processing applications to the BSL, running a helpdesk and a public-facing website for scheme applicants, maintaining a database of approved woody fuels, managing quarterly reporting from scheme participants and undertaking compliance audits.

The current Administrator of the BSL was appointed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) through competitive tender in March 2014. The current contract comes to an end on 31 March 2016.

Additional information: Expression of interest

Under the current contract the BSL is set-up as a standard contract with ongoing administration and is funded solely by DECC. However, after the current contract expires, DECC is proposing to set up a BSL that will be self-funded by the administrator. The administrator will be able to charge fees to those registered on the BSL within a framework set out by DECC. We would like to discuss with industry how this could work. Depending on the level of interest, we may hold a supplier information day or hold one to one meetings with interested suppliers in Late January or early February 2016.

If you or representatives of your business are interested in tendering for a concession to administer the BSL, then please register your interest with Devinia Akonor.