Hear from our speakers

Ahead of the UK’s biggest AD and biogas trade show we asked our speakers for an insight into what they are working on at the moment and what they hope to get across at UK AD & Biogas 2013. Here are some of their responses:

Dr Jonathan Scurlock, NFU

What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?

Building upon recent engagement with Defra and DECC officials, and the previous widely shared aspiration for 1000 AD plants on farms by 2020, the NFU is pleased to be helping an AD industry group to develop a more detailed level of ambition for on-farm AD, based upon likely uptake in each farming sector (dairy, pigs, poultry, hort/veg, arable, etc.).

If you were to become the Energy Secretary/ Environment Secretary what would you change and why?

Deployment of AD on farms at smaller scale urgently requires more carefully directed support from both the Feed-In Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive schemes, and “room to grow” in the planning and permitting regimes.

Jonathan will be speaking in the conference session ‘Making the most of our resources’ on 3 July at 15.45 – 16.05.

Dorian Harrison, Monsal

If you were to become the Energy Secretary/Environment Secretary what would you change and why?

Legislate such that energy generation in the UK was priced on carbon emissions with higher than average carbon energy generation paying a tax which would then be paid to lower than average carbon generating technologies and use this mechanism to replace all subsidies.

How do you hope to influence the audience at UK AD & Biogas 2013? What are the 2 or 3 key messages you want them to remember?

I want the audience to take home the message that AD should perform well and have a good understanding that AD plants performing at high efficiency generate more revenue than poorly performing plants.

Dorian will be speaking in the conference session ‘Getting technology and operations right’ on 4 July at 10.00 – 11.00.

Amaya Arias-Garcia, Tamar Energy

What do you think the strengths of AD are? How does it fit into what you want to achieve over the next two years?

The most important strength of AD as a process is the ability to recover a material in a very efficient way by producing renewable energy or fuel and an organic fertiliser. Another important strength of AD is the decentralised energy potential of the process, allowing the production of energy close to where it will be used. This local generation reduces transmission losses in turn making it more efficient.

How do you hope to influence the audience at UK AD & Biogas 2013? What are the 2 or 3 key messages you want them to remember?

I would like everyone to understand how important AD is for the future generations. In addition I would like everyone to understand that it is not good enough to develop AD plants but we should work hard to achieve long operating, efficient and safe plants.

Amaya will be speaking in the conference session ‘Getting technology and operations right’ on 4 July at 10.00 – 11.00.

Brenda Foster, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA)

Realistically, what would you like to achieve in the next two years?

Ensure that the AD industry is aware of the Animal By-Products legislation and how it affects their businesses.

Brenda will be speaking in the conference session ‘Getting technology and operations right’ on 4 July at 12.00 – 12.30.

Niels Christian Holm, SH+E Group

What do you think the strengths of AD are? How does it fit into what you want to achieve over the next two years?

The most important strength of AD is the production of renewable energy, as opposed to aerobic treatment designs which have a huge net energy demand. Furthermore, anaerobic processes generate a product that is very interesting in terms of additional nutrient recovery, increasing the environmental and cost benefits even further.

If you were to become the Energy Secretary/ Environment Secretary what would you change and why?

In the field of bioenergy, I would change the system of subsidies to promote the generation of energy from waste substrates, both liquid and solid, including manure. I would promote nutrient recovery from wastewater and waste sludge, possibly by creating suitable incentives.

Niels will be speaking in the seminar session ‘Innovation in process design’ on 4 July at 12.00 – 13.00 in the Purple Seminar Theatre.

Gary Stoddart, SFQC

What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?

Environmental schemes that are independently certified for carbon capture and re-cycling. Such verified schemes will help to mitigate climate change.

How do you hope to influence the audience at UK AD & Biogas 2013? What are the 2 or 3 key messages you want them to remember?

Get more AD plants certified to BCS so the digestate is a product and not a waste. Explain the benefits of digestate as a fertiliser to farmers and growers – a safe product providing readily available plant nutrients.

Gary will be speaking in the seminar session ‘The experience of PAS110 and how it is being revised’ on 4 July at 14.00 – 15.00 in the Green Seminar Theatre.

See all of our speakers in our conference and seminar programmes.