Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 147 Jan-Feb 2004

9. Coal Mine Methane exempted from levy

EU state aid clearance has been granted for electricity generated from coal mine methane (CMM) to be exempt from Climate Change Levy (CCL).  Methane that could otherwise have escaped to contribute to climate change, can now be collected and converted to electricity more economically.  The proposal was first announced in the Budget in April 2002  which said that full exemption from CCL was to be incorporated into the Finance Act 2002, on the assumption that  EU state aid clearance would follow.  This was to correct the anomaly whereby CMM used directly as an industrial fuel was exempt from CCL but electricity generated from CMM was not.  Dr Cameron Davies, Chairman of the Association of Coal Mine Methane Operators, welcomed the move, but said: “We will continue to lobby the UK Government for further financial incentives and benefits, particularly for inclusion of CMM in the Renewables Obligation alongside landfill and sewage methane which are already included.”

For full details of the case for CMM see the Technology section in Renew 147.