UK policy goes with the wind

The UK government has put wind power at the heart of its strategy to meet binding EU targets to produce 15% of the country’s energy from renewables.

Secretary of State for Business John Hutton outlined plans for a 30-fold increase in on-shore wind power generation in the government’s long-awaited renewable energy consultation strategy.

The document, published on 26 June, includes proposals for extending and raising the Renewables Obligation to encourage 30-35% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020.

Small-scale renewable and microgeneration installations in homes and other buildings are also encouraged, “potentially through a feed-in tariff”.

Other proposals include incentives for new electricity grid infrastructure and removing barriers to access the transmission grid to encourage renewable deployment; boosting biomass capacity and requiring all biofuels to meet strict sustainability criteria to limit their impact on food prices.

Hutton said: “We are opening a new chapter in Britain’s history as a nation of enterprise and innovation, moving from the old, carbon-intensive economy of the industrial revolution to the new, low-carbon technologies of the 21st century.”

The proposals are expected to achieve carbon savings of about 20 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020. The increase in renewable generation will also help reduce the UK’s dependence on gas imports by up to 16%.

The consultation acknowledges there will need to be investment in non-renewable back-up generation given the intermittent nature of renewables. However, this requirement could be reduced if the UK signed up to the proposal for a European supergrid.

Responses are invited by 26 September 2008. A final strategy is expected by spring 2009.

Alongside the consultation, the Department for Business and Ofgem have published a new package of measures to speed up grid connections for renewable energy projects. The government estimates a backlog of 10GW of wind energy is awaiting grid connection.

View the consultation on http://renewableconsultation.berr.gov.uk

• A coalition of more than 20 industry bodies, including CIBSE and the Renewable Energy Association, has issued a manifesto demanding urgent changes to government policy to ensure the UK’s energy saving and renewables targets are not missed. The manifesto also calls for individual targets to be set for renewables in the heat, transport and electricity sectors by 2020.