Plans to build anaerobic digestion plants to convert organic waste, such as animal slurry, manure and rotting vegetables, into energy are being shelved across the country following Government announcments on the Feed-in Tariffs for electricity.

The tariff levels announced were lower than anticipated and do not offer not enough support to allow smaller scale commercial plants to be built without further grant aid.

David Collins, the REA's expert on anaerobic digestion and Head of the UK Biogas group, said: "All the momentum has been knocked out of the system. There just won't be any plants built unless they are supported by a tariff rate that is high enough to remove the need for grants... [but] the new tariffs are not high enough to support any of the small plants." 

Please see the Independent newspaper article by Susie Mesure and Jonathan Owen.