Industry News-PRASEG Delivering the UK’s renewable energy targets

Delivering the UK’s renewable energy targets

Greater leadership on planning decisions for onshore wind farms from local councillors was one of the main points made at a seminar on Monday (November 2^nd) organised by the Parliamentary Renewable & Sustainable Energy Group.

The topic of the seminar was the delivery of the UK’s renewable energy targets and presentations were given by Sarah Rhodes, Acting Head of DECC’s Office of Renewable Energy Deployment, Maria McCaffery of the BWEA and Keith Anderson, Managing Director of Scottish Power Renewables.

Whilst the facts about current levels of renewable power generation were nothing new, nor the enormity of the challenge to reach the2020 targets, let alone the 2030 target, the speakers outlined the steps that are already being taken by government and what more must be done. Keith Anderson referenced the positive steps being taken in the US (tax credits) to encourage renewables, and the need to focus effort on delivering renewables now rather than spending too much time on the longer-term issues such as grid infrastructure (although these are important).

Maria McCaffery spoke of the need for government and the industry to blow away the myths about wind power often used by objectors across the UK, and to communicate the positive impact that wind farms bring to areas once they are up and running as well as the benefit to the UK economy.

Delivering 30% of the UK’s electricity from renewables sources by 2020 is the target, with the associated benefits of energy security and “green jobs”.….wind, biomass, tidal and wave will all have a part to play. We will have an idea of what the UK must do by 2050 when DECC publishes its Energy Vision in March 2010

Political News- Westminster Environmental Audit Comittee continue their report on Green Jobs and Skills

Today the Environmental Audit Committee continued their report into ‘Green Jobs and Skills’.

Hearing evidence from the Environment Industries Commission, The British Wind Energy Association, Repower-uk and Mainstream Renewable Power, the committee looked into what the government can, and should, be doing to promote ‘green jobs’, as well as how the UK can benefit from green industries.

The EIC regarded the governments position towards environmental industry jobs as ‘too narrow’ and felt that too much focus was on reducing carbon,with the UK lagging behind other countries. They told the committee that more time should be put into water quality and air quality, with road and transport emissions a prime area where government action has slipped.

The well known face of BWEA’s Gordon Edge gave the committee a positive picture of the governments funding arrangements, and praised the stability of the current RO’s scheme. Under the current arrangements, the UK is now the world leader in off-shore wind power.

However, Dr Desmond Turner, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy group, felt that other technologies were being overlooked.With the UK having such abundant marine resources and a ‘delicate leadership’, tidal and marine technologies, such as Taylor Keogh clients Marine Current Turbines and AWS Ocean Energy, should be being invested in.

With ROCs for the developed technology of offshore wind now worth as much as emerging marine technologies. Dr Turner felt that the benefits of marine technologies would give 100% added value to the UK, unlike the offshore wind industry, where many components and turbines are manufactured abroad.

Dr Edge agreed that ROCs for marine technologies should be increased, but added that the marine energy sector is where the wind energy was in the 1980s and would not contribute highly to the 2020 renewable targets. Dr Turner reminded the committee that the UK was also a leader in wind technology in the 1980’s, before handing the manufacturing industry to Denmark and Germany, through negligence and lack of adequate funding.