http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1947/article/3The Renewables Obligation Order 2015texttext/xmlenStatute Law DatabaseELECTRICITY, ENGLAND AND WALES2026-04-26Expert Participation2026-03-27 This Order consolidates and re-enacts the Renewables Obligation Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/785) (the “2009 Order”) as amended and makes new provision. It imposes an obligation (“the renewables obligation”), on all electricity suppliers licensed under the Electricity Act 1989 (“the Act”) which supply electricity in England and Wales, to produce a certain number of renewables obligation certificates in respect of each megawatt hour of electricity that each supplies to customers in England and Wales during a specified period known as an “obligation period” (article 7). It also “bands” the different technologies that are used to generate electricity from renewable sources, meaning that the number of certificates that will be issued in respect of that electricity depends on the way in which that electricity has been generated. The renewables obligation is administered by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (“the Authority”) who issues renewable obligation certificates to renewable electricity generators based on their renewable output. These certificates are sold to electricity suppliers with or without the associated renewable electricity. The Renewables Obligation Order 2015 PART 1 31In this Order, “biomass” means fuel which—afalls within paragraph (2),bfalls within paragraph (3), orcis a fossil derived bioliquid.2Fuel falls within this paragraph if—aat least 90% of its energy content is derived from relevant material, andbany fossil fuel forming part of the fuel is present following a process—ito which the relevant material has been subject, andiithe undertaking of which has caused the fossil fuel to be present in, on or with that material even though that was not the object of the process.3Fuel falls within this paragraph if—aat least 90% of its energy content is derived from relevant material,bit is waste, andcany fossil fuel forming part of it was not added to it with a view to the fossil fuel being used as a fuel.4For the purposes of this Order except for articles 28, 63, 82 and 84, a fuel which is used in a generating station with biomass but which is not biomass (including, where two or more of the fuels listed in article 2(4) are mixed together before being so used, each of those fuels which is not biomass) is to be treated as biomass if—athe energy content of the fuel is derived in part from relevant material and in part from fossil fuel;beither—ithe fossil fuel is present in it following a process—aato which the relevant material has been subject, andbbthe undertaking of which has caused the fossil fuel to be present in, on or with that material even though that was not the object of the process; oriiit is waste and the fossil fuel forming part of it was not added to it with a view to its being used as a fuel; andcat least 90% of the total energy content of the fuel and the biomass with which the fuel is used is derived from relevant material.5Accordingly, any reference in this Order to biomass, other than in articles 28, 63, 82 and 84, is to be construed as a reference to biomass or fuel which (by virtue of paragraph (4)) is to be treated as biomass.6Where biomass (not being waste or fossil derived bioliquid) is used, whether on its own or not, to fuel a generating station and a proportion of it is composed of fossil fuel, the proportion of it which is composed of fossil fuel—ais to be determined by the Authority, andbis the energy content of the fossil fuel from which it is in part composed expressed as a percentage of its energy content as a whole.7For the purposes of this article, “relevant material” means material, other than fossil fuel, which is, or is derived directly or indirectly from, plant matter, animal matter, fungi, algae or bacteria.