Our sixth consultation on proposed revisions to the standard rules for this activity have now closed. You can view the consultation documents:
We have produced one rule set allowing an operator to operate an anaerobic digestion of wastes and also use of the biogas, in compression and spark ignition engines, with an aggregate rated thermal input of up to 3 megawatts.
The rules also allow use of standard commercial gas turbines, fuel cells (e.g. Molten Carbonate or Solid Oxide) or treatment followed by injection into the gas grid.
Applying for a standard permit
You can apply for a standard permit if you can comply with the standard rules and meet the following risk criteria:
The activities must not be within:
- 500 metres of a European Site, Ramsar site or a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
- a specified Air Quality Management Area (AQMA)
- 10 metres of a watercourse
- 50 metres of any spring or well, or of any borehole not used to supply water for domestic or food production purposes, and
- 50 metres of any well, spring or from any borehole used for the supply of water for human consumption. This must include private water supplies.
- a groundwater source protection zone 1
Stacks from engines must not be within 200 metres of any off-site building used by the public, including dwelling houses. (If the effective stack height is greater than three metres or the stack height is seven metres and above, this distance limit does not apply).
Applying for a bespoke permit
If you cannot comply with any of the standard rules, or meet any one of the criteria listed above, then you must apply for a bespoke permit. Your application must include additional information about the criteria that you cannot meet and how you intend to control the associated risks:
Cost of standard permits
The cost of standard permits can be found within our charging scheme. Please visit the Environmental Permitting (EP) charges page:
Standard rules
You can find the standard rules sets, generic risk assessment, guidance and application form by using the links below.
Look at the standard rules that you want to apply for and check that:
- the permitted activities include all the ones that you want to carry out;
- the permitted waste types include all the wastes that you want to accept onto the site;
- the permitted waste quantity is sufficient;
- you can comply with all the other rules. We have written guidance to help you understand how to comply with the rules.
Download and check the rules:
We carried out a risk assessment to develop the risk criteria for these activities to produce the standard rules. We have provided it for your information, but you do not need to agree with it or send us a signed copy:
Record of changes to standard rules and generic risk assessment
A record of the changes to the standard rules and generic risk assessment since they were first published is available. The record of change was last updated in April 2011. If you operate under this set of standard rules, you must comply with the current version that is linked to this web page:
Guidance on how to comply with your standard permit
Guidance is provided in a document called 'How to Comply with your Environmental Permit'. This is available to download from our Environmental Permitting guidance page:
Application form and explanatory notes
The Environmental Permitting Regulations application form is available from the link below:
