Ed Miliband has today announced its strategy for meeting carbon emissions targets and to a massive increase in renewable energy.
The announcements today are to demonstrate the government is committed to fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
In a wide ranging announcement Ed Miliband covered all of the main issues including the focus on the technologies needed, infrastructure, feed in tariffs and the need to have skilled work force that can fuel the ‘green economy’.
Summary of the key points
General Notes
•Regional Development Agencies will play a crucial role in partnership with the Government to promote the development of market-led technology clusters for low carbon energy developers.
•South-West will be developed into the worlds first Low Carbon Economic Area.
•The Government and the Technology Strategy Board will work to improve collaboration and knowledge sharing within and beyond the UK through the launch of the Energy Knowledge Transfer Network as a one stop shop for investors and developers in energy generation.
•The Intellectual Property Office will consider how the Government can support small- and medium-sized businesses developing low carbon technologies to license them in developing countries.
•Renewable Energy Industry will be supported with an additional £4billion from the EU Investment Bank. In the short term the government thinks it will be able to bring forward £1 billion for small and medium sized renewable projects.
Marine
•The Government is allocating up to an additional £60 million for a suite of measures which will help accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy in the UK and will cement our current position as a global leader in the sector.
•The Government will double its financial support to Wave Hub – the development of a significant demonstration and testing facility off the Cornish coast – with up to £9.5 million of investment. The Government is also proposing to invest up to £10 million at NaREC, the New and Renewable Energy Centre, in the North East to build on and utilise existing infrastructure to provide an open access facility for marine developers to test and prove designs/components onshore.
•The Government will also provide up to £10 million to support the South West’s significant potential for wave and tidal energy deployment, research, demonstration and engineering and up to an additional £8 million from the UK Environmental Transformation Fund to expand the in-sea stage testing facilities at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, in the Orkneys.
•In addition the Government will launch a Marine Renewables Proving Fund which will provide up to £22 million of grant funding for the testing and demonstration of pre-commercial wave and tidal stream devices. This will accelerate wave and tidal technologies’ move towards commercial demonstration and assist the development of successful projects under the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund. Taken together, these investments will provide the UK with unparalleled testing and demonstration facilities.
Emmissions and Trading Cap
•Emissions in the traded sector, for the purposes of accounting under the Climate Change Act, are fixed at the level of the UK’s share of the declining EU Emissions Trading System cap.
This will be equal to the level of auctioning rights the UK receives plus the number of EU allowances that are freely allocated to UK installations. Combined with the emissions reductions that measures in the non-traded sector are expected to deliver shows how the UK, on central projections, will meet the first three carbon budgets.
Wind
•The Renewable Energy Strategy recommits the Government to a massive increase in renewables generation going up from 5% today to 30% by 2020. Based on the figures in last year’s draft strategy this implies 22% of all electricity will come from offshore and onshore wind and another 2% from marine technologies.
Carbon Capture and Storage
•The Department of Energy and Climate Change will also establish an Office of Carbon Capture and Storage to support the delivery of this work. Full details will be announced in the autumn of 2009.
•In 2007 the Government launched a competition to build one of the first commercial scale projects in the world. In April 2009 the Government announced that new fossil fuel power stations would have to be designed and built so that they could fit CCS in the future.
•In a consultation launched in June 2009, the Government proposed a new financial and regulatory framework to drive the development of CCS. These proposals included plans to fund up to four CCS demonstrations in the UK and a requirement for any new coal power station to demonstrate CCS.
•The Government is considering how to encourage clusters of CCS infrastructure and expertise, in key areas, such as Yorkshire and Humber, the Thames Estuary, the Firth of Forth, Tyne/ Tees and Merseyside, bringing major employment and regeneration benefits.
Local Generation and Feed in Tariffs
•The Government working with the energy Saving Trust, energy companies, Local Authorities, the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and others to test the uptake in the interest of the ‘whole house’ approach. The government are going to put up to £4m to support these initiatives.
•The Government is putting in place financial rewards for small-scale low carbon electricity generation, with Feed-in Tariffs from April 2010. Payment for the electricity produced by small-scale generators, will be provided through the electricity supply companies and encourage the uptake of renewables by schools, homeowners, hospitals, businesses and communities.
Job Creation and Training
•Renewable energy also requires specialist skills. The Office for Renewable Energy Deployment is working with industry on a strategy for skills in wind, wave and tidal energy and is also establishing the National Skills Academy for Power. Full plans will be published towards the end of 2009.
Planning and enabling timely investment:
•The government is committed to delivering sufficient financial investment, and ensuring the attractiveness of the UK as a place to invest.
•Ensuring planning policies support the development and installation of low carbon technologies. The focus here is around the IPC and the statutory legislation related to planning matters.
•Taking advantage of the replacement/ refurbishment schedules of existing plants and infrastructure
Delivering the engineering challenges of building a low carbon energy system of this scale:
The government understands that meeting the physical and supply chain challenges of building new, reliable electrical generating capacity and other energy infrastructure at this scale, particularly in the face of likely international competition for these capabilities will be challenging.
The focus going forward will need to be on developing or upgrading infrastructure as it becomes necessary. As well as the electricity grid (transmission and distribution networks), this could include networks for transporting and storing captured carbon, systems for managing nuclear waste, hydrogen or electric vehicle fuelling/charging networks and community heat systems.
The Energy Mix
The government understands that the transition in matching evolving sources of demand for energy with new sources of supply in an efficient and practical mannerDeveloping technologies that will be needed to close the energy gap and meet the government commitments to reducing carbon emissions.
Future Consultations
• Government will develop a strategic roadmap to 2050 by spring 2010, working closely with industry and wider stakeholders.
•In autumn, the Committee on Climate Change will provide further analysis of the pathway through 2030 to 2050 The Government will work with the Committee, taking its analysis and recommendations into account when developing the roadmap to 2050.
•The Government is consulting on the detailed design and proposed tariff levels for ‘Feedin Tariffs’ alongside this Transition Plan.10 A household with a well-sited photovoltaic installation could receive over £800 plus bill savings of around £140 a year.
Click here to review and see all of the four documents released by the government today
The announcements today are to demonstrate the government is committed to fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
In a wide ranging announcement Ed Miliband covered all of the main issues including the focus on the technologies needed, infrastructure, feed in tariffs and the need to have skilled work force that can fuel the ‘green economy’.
Summary of the key points
General Notes
•Regional Development Agencies will play a crucial role in partnership with the Government to promote the development of market-led technology clusters for low carbon energy developers.
•South-West will be developed into the worlds first Low Carbon Economic Area.
•The Government and the Technology Strategy Board will work to improve collaboration and knowledge sharing within and beyond the UK through the launch of the Energy Knowledge Transfer Network as a one stop shop for investors and developers in energy generation.
•The Intellectual Property Office will consider how the Government can support small- and medium-sized businesses developing low carbon technologies to license them in developing countries.
•Renewable Energy Industry will be supported with an additional £4billion from the EU Investment Bank. In the short term the government thinks it will be able to bring forward £1 billion for small and medium sized renewable projects.
Marine
•The Government is allocating up to an additional £60 million for a suite of measures which will help accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy in the UK and will cement our current position as a global leader in the sector.
•The Government will double its financial support to Wave Hub – the development of a significant demonstration and testing facility off the Cornish coast – with up to £9.5 million of investment. The Government is also proposing to invest up to £10 million at NaREC, the New and Renewable Energy Centre, in the North East to build on and utilise existing infrastructure to provide an open access facility for marine developers to test and prove designs/components onshore.
•The Government will also provide up to £10 million to support the South West’s significant potential for wave and tidal energy deployment, research, demonstration and engineering and up to an additional £8 million from the UK Environmental Transformation Fund to expand the in-sea stage testing facilities at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, in the Orkneys.
•In addition the Government will launch a Marine Renewables Proving Fund which will provide up to £22 million of grant funding for the testing and demonstration of pre-commercial wave and tidal stream devices. This will accelerate wave and tidal technologies’ move towards commercial demonstration and assist the development of successful projects under the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund. Taken together, these investments will provide the UK with unparalleled testing and demonstration facilities.
Emmissions and Trading Cap
•Emissions in the traded sector, for the purposes of accounting under the Climate Change Act, are fixed at the level of the UK’s share of the declining EU Emissions Trading System cap.
This will be equal to the level of auctioning rights the UK receives plus the number of EU allowances that are freely allocated to UK installations. Combined with the emissions reductions that measures in the non-traded sector are expected to deliver shows how the UK, on central projections, will meet the first three carbon budgets.
Wind
•The Renewable Energy Strategy recommits the Government to a massive increase in renewables generation going up from 5% today to 30% by 2020. Based on the figures in last year’s draft strategy this implies 22% of all electricity will come from offshore and onshore wind and another 2% from marine technologies.
Carbon Capture and Storage
•The Department of Energy and Climate Change will also establish an Office of Carbon Capture and Storage to support the delivery of this work. Full details will be announced in the autumn of 2009.
•In 2007 the Government launched a competition to build one of the first commercial scale projects in the world. In April 2009 the Government announced that new fossil fuel power stations would have to be designed and built so that they could fit CCS in the future.
•In a consultation launched in June 2009, the Government proposed a new financial and regulatory framework to drive the development of CCS. These proposals included plans to fund up to four CCS demonstrations in the UK and a requirement for any new coal power station to demonstrate CCS.
•The Government is considering how to encourage clusters of CCS infrastructure and expertise, in key areas, such as Yorkshire and Humber, the Thames Estuary, the Firth of Forth, Tyne/ Tees and Merseyside, bringing major employment and regeneration benefits.
Local Generation and Feed in Tariffs
•The Government working with the energy Saving Trust, energy companies, Local Authorities, the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and others to test the uptake in the interest of the ‘whole house’ approach. The government are going to put up to £4m to support these initiatives.
•The Government is putting in place financial rewards for small-scale low carbon electricity generation, with Feed-in Tariffs from April 2010. Payment for the electricity produced by small-scale generators, will be provided through the electricity supply companies and encourage the uptake of renewables by schools, homeowners, hospitals, businesses and communities.
Job Creation and Training
•Renewable energy also requires specialist skills. The Office for Renewable Energy Deployment is working with industry on a strategy for skills in wind, wave and tidal energy and is also establishing the National Skills Academy for Power. Full plans will be published towards the end of 2009.
Planning and enabling timely investment:
•The government is committed to delivering sufficient financial investment, and ensuring the attractiveness of the UK as a place to invest.
•Ensuring planning policies support the development and installation of low carbon technologies. The focus here is around the IPC and the statutory legislation related to planning matters.
•Taking advantage of the replacement/ refurbishment schedules of existing plants and infrastructure
Delivering the engineering challenges of building a low carbon energy system of this scale:
The government understands that meeting the physical and supply chain challenges of building new, reliable electrical generating capacity and other energy infrastructure at this scale, particularly in the face of likely international competition for these capabilities will be challenging.
The focus going forward will need to be on developing or upgrading infrastructure as it becomes necessary. As well as the electricity grid (transmission and distribution networks), this could include networks for transporting and storing captured carbon, systems for managing nuclear waste, hydrogen or electric vehicle fuelling/charging networks and community heat systems.
The Energy Mix
The government understands that the transition in matching evolving sources of demand for energy with new sources of supply in an efficient and practical mannerDeveloping technologies that will be needed to close the energy gap and meet the government commitments to reducing carbon emissions.
Future Consultations
• Government will develop a strategic roadmap to 2050 by spring 2010, working closely with industry and wider stakeholders.
•In autumn, the Committee on Climate Change will provide further analysis of the pathway through 2030 to 2050 The Government will work with the Committee, taking its analysis and recommendations into account when developing the roadmap to 2050.
•The Government is consulting on the detailed design and proposed tariff levels for ‘Feedin Tariffs’ alongside this Transition Plan.10 A household with a well-sited photovoltaic installation could receive over £800 plus bill savings of around £140 a year.
Click here to review and see all of the four documents released by the government today
