Ofgem NDRHI report for 2021-22 released, biomethane still on the rise

Ofgem released their summary report for the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive 2021/22 (April to March) on 28 July 2022. The NDRHI scheme covers renewable heat production support, but also includes support for biomethane installations injecting their output into the national grid.

Biomethane related highlights include:

• 360 million m3 biomethane injected into the grid (and supported via NDRHI payments). This represents an increase of about 7% from the previous year.
• Support payments amounted to 283 mil GBP, also an increase over 20/21. However, the average rate of compensation (payment per volume injected) decreased from 81 pence/m3 to approximately 79 p/m3.

• Biomethane installations accounted for 42 accreditations in 21/22, and 0.64% of all accreditations since the NDRHI scheme's inception.
• Biomethane to date has accounted for 33% of total support payment amount, only behind Biomass (57%) when considering technology type.

Biogas installations have accounted for 4% of all accreditations, 7% of total payments and slightly over 5 TWh of heat generation to date. 

There is currently 330 MW of biogas heating capacity in the UK supported by the scheme. Some of these facilities could contribute to grid biomethane supply with the installation of biogas upgraders and appropriate gas network connections. An annual supply of around 2 TWh of biomethane is estimated, should all biogas heating facilities be converted as such.

Source: Ofgem