Woodbridge-based Melton Renewable Energy runs five biomass generation plants including Eye power station in Suffolk and sites at Thetford in Norfolk, Ely in Cambridgeshire, Westfield in Fife and Glanford in Lincolnshire.

It stresses that its 200-strong workforce operating the plants are not currently at risk of redundancy.

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Eddie Wilkinson, chief executive of Melton Renewable Energy in Woodbridge (Image: Melton Renewable Energy)

But it has updated employees on its plans beyond March 2027 - when Renewables Obligation (RO) support ends for the plants ends.

 It says without "appropriate transitional support or alternative commercial arrangements" the plants don't have a future beyond that point.

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Every year the energy plants take in 600,000 tonnes of poultry litter along with other agricultural waste and uses it to generate 113MW of electricity - which is enough to power around 250,000 homes a year.

Melton Renewable Energy's poultry litter power plant at Thetford (Image: Melton Renewable Energy)

If sufficient progress on transitional support or commercial alternatives has not been made by December 2026, the company says it will begin a three‑month consultation process in January 2027.

Redundancies are not envisaged to before March 31, 2027, at the earliest.

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Chief executive Eddie Wilkinson warned of the loss of skilled jobs, critical infrastructure assets and "a significant near-term negative emissions opportunity" if government doesn't take action

“We remain fully committed to achieving a positive, long‑term outcome for the business and our employees," he said.

"We are exploring every available commercial and development opportunity.

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Melton Renewable Energy's poultry litter power plant at Thetford (Image: Melton Renewable Energy)

"However, unless the government puts in place appropriate transitional arrangements beyond the end of the Renewables Obligation Scheme, our biomass generation plants will close in April 2027."

He called on the government to act so that the plants can continue to "play our critical role supporting the UK’s environmental objectives and domestic energy security at a time of unprecedented risk and volatility in world energy markets.”

The company - which has been going for 25 years - says it is the UK's only large‑scale, secure disposal route for poultry litter.

This cuts the need to spread the muck on land and protects rivers, watercourse and soil health, and reduced biosecurity risks linked to untreated agricultural waste, it argues. 

These benefits will be lost if the five sites are allowed to close, it warns.

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It has been working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to find a viable support mechanism beyond the end of the RO scheme - so far without success.

It stresses that it not seeking an open-ended subsidy but needs a time-limited financial bridge.

The sites could be retrofitted with carbon capture technology, it argues.

DEFRA has been approached for comment.

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