With the harvest approaching, you may be looking at market prices and thinking about how much straw to keep or stockpile for your own use and how much to sell on. If you are considering selling straw or any other harvest residue for the biomass market, the good news is that there’s an easy way to prove sustainability, increase its saleability and command a better price – register your fuel on the Sustainable Fuel Register (SFR).
The SFR is an industry-led register of non–wood based fuels which provides a simple way of meeting sustainability criteria for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) – whether you are a producer, trader, or end user of the fuel. It is a register of batches of fuel that ensures all steps in the supply chain from field to boiler are traceable and all the greenhouse gas emissions accounted for at each stage of the process. It also acts more widely as a valuable mark of sustainability as well as making registered fuels an attractive proposition for buyers with RHI accredited straw boilers.
Easier and better than self-reporting
The whole SFR process is streamlined, captures all key data, and saves you time if you are currently self-reporting for RHI. The online registration process is straightforward and all your fuel details are held securely, making auditing less complicated and registration of future fuel batches easy. You need to submit figures for diesel use for baling, collection and transport but this is not as difficult as you might think and may actually help you understand more about your on-site energy use and help you make savings in the future.
If you are a self-supplier and move over to SFR, you get a free audit as part of the deal (minimum tonnage of 500 tonnes registered per annum). An SFR representative visits your site and looks over your procedures and fuel records. They make recommendations on how to avoid common pitfalls and improve record keeping. This will mean you are more likely to sail through a full-scale Ofgem RHI audit.
How much does it cost?
The fee structure is reasonable and you can calculate exactly what you’ll be paying. A £200 annual fee covers 100 tonnes of fuel. Anything above this is £0.50 per tonne. You will pay the annual fee once a year and can register additional amounts as you need to.
If it all sounds a bit daunting, the SFR also offer an assisted application service whereby they handle most of the initial data gathering for you for a small additional fee.
Get started with the SFR and find out more at www.sfregister.org or call NFU Energy on 024 7669 8919