The U.K. government will not introduce replacement subsidies for small-scale biomass power generators when support under the country’s Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme begins to expire from April 2027, a government minister has confirmed, Biomass Magazine reported.
The decision means small-scale biomass generators with a capacity of less than 100 MW will not receive transitional support after their existing RO support ends. The current RO scheme provides support to both large- and small-scale biomass power generators, along with other renewable energy technologies.
In February 2025, the U.K. government confirmed that large-scale biomass generators would receive transitional support after the RO scheme expires. However, no equivalent successor subsidy scheme will be introduced for small-scale biomass facilities.
In a September 1 letter to Bill Esterston, MP and chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, Michael Shanks, MP and Minister of State for Energy, confirmed that no transitional subsidies would be available for small-scale biomass generators.
The category covers a range of technologies, including dedicated biomass, biomass combined heat and power, sewage gas, energy from waste, anaerobic digestion and advanced conversion technologies, Shanks said.
Explaining the decision, Shanks said the government had assessed the different operating characteristics, emissions profiles, costs and benefits of these assets and concluded that the benefits did not justify establishing a successor support scheme.
“The support currently provided will begin to expire from 2027 onwards as planned, with different assets reaching the end of their support periods at various points through to 2037,” Shanks said. He added that generators had known from the time of accreditation how long they would receive support and that this position had not changed.
According to Shanks, the government’s decision reflects its assessment that continuing support would not provide value for money. He also said the decline in small-scale biomass capacity following the end of RO support would be relatively small in overall system terms and was unlikely to create unmanageable electricity security-of-supply risks under central scenarios.
The U.K.-based Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) has expressed disappointment over the decision and called for the government to reconsider its approach.
Richard Coulson, biomass lead on the WRA board, said waste wood biomass plants make an important contribution to energy security and net-zero goals while also providing an environmental service by offering a domestic outlet for millions of tonnes of waste wood each year.
He warned that without continued support, waste wood could be exported, sent to landfill or potentially diverted to illegal waste sites.
Coulson said the government should consider biomass not only from an energy-policy perspective but also in the context of waste and resource management. He argued that the contribution of biomass plants should not be assessed solely on their electricity generation capacity.
The WRA has urged the government to examine the material currently processed by these plants, the availability of alternative treatment capacity, the costs and environmental impacts of alternative disposal routes, the implications for local authority and construction and demolition waste management, and the wider economic consequences.
The association has called for an urgent re-evaluation of the government’s decision.
