Fresh from creating an energy efficiency shambles, supposedly because of concerns about rising energy bills, the Government has, over the last month, attacked and destabilised the two cheapest and most popular renewables.(1)
First, Energy Minister Michael Fallon announced an effective moratorium on onshore wind if the Tories win the General Election next year. He says we already have enough wind power in the pipeline to meet 2020 EU targets. The Conservative manifesto will pledge to scrap subsidies paid by bill-payers for onshore wind and change the planning system to allow local councils (in England and Wales) to block any which do not already have planning consent.(2) Fallon says any project not granted planning permission before the election would not get funds.(3)
Britain has an obligation under EU law to generate 15% of its energy – not just electricity – from renewables by 2020. To meet this target we need to have a renewable capacity of around 35GW. Of this around 11-13GW is expected to come from onshore wind. Onshore wind capacity is currently about 7.3 gigawatts (GW) — enough to power four million homes. Facilities already under construction or with planning permission will add another 5GW, so we should achieve the target.(4)
But what is Tory’s strategy for decarbonisation post-2020? To meet its climate targets the UK will need to build around another 10GW of onshore wind by 2030. Onshore wind is currently the cheapest renewable option, but the view seems to be that ending subsidies would release cash for more investment in other renewable sources: “This is a mature industry which has had 20 years of subsidy.” The government expects the cost of offshore wind to come down in the 2020s – but not enough to overtake onshore wind. Overall, investing in 10 GW of onshore wind in the 2020s rather than other less-developed clean technologies could save the economy two to three billion pounds, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) predicts. Or to put it another way – failing to invest in 10 GW of onshore wind could cost the country two to three billion pounds in the 2020s.(5)
The anti-wind Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) says there is already enough renewable energy capacity in the pipeline to meet the target of 35GW of capacity by 2020. Almost half (16GW) is operational now. Another 4GW is being built. Although most of the rest of the 15GW required is in the pipeline, at least 10% of consented onshore wind turbines and 20% offshore never get built. And REF seems to assume there is no need to build more renewables once the EU 2020 target has been met, but we will need 64GW by 2030 according to the CCC, and that is with fairly ambitious targets for nuclear and carbon capture and storage.(6)
The Government is also proposing to make drastic reforms to the solar subsidy regime which could kill off solar farm development At the same time the Government says it wants to improve the support regime for rooftop installations and community-owned projects.(7) A Government consultation document (8) proposes to halt Renewables Obligation (RO) subsidies for solar farms larger than 5MW in capacity from April 2015, in line with ministers’ plans to curb the development of new ground-mounted solar farms. DECC said it was concerned that large solar farms would exceed their available budget under the RO, as the industry is deploying at a much faster rate than previously expected. Solar farm projects will still be eligible for support through the new Contract for Difference (CfD) regime, and there would be a “grace period” for solar farms already in the pipeline.
Instead the Government wants to accelerate the development of large scale solar rooftops on supermarkets, offices, warehouses, and public building. But the proposed changes for large-scale rooftops simply promise a slower rate of future reductions to support levels, not the increase which developers argue is needed to jolt the commercial rooftop sector out of the doldrums.(9)
Seb Berry of the Solar Trade Association (STA) says said the “announcement is unnecessary and totally at odds with the government’s desire to reduce the cost to energy bill payers of delivering the 2020 renewable energy target. Following close behind recent unhelpful media coverage of onshore wind policy, this policy proposal will undermine investor confidence in the entire UK renewable energy sector, by removing at a stroke the short and medium-term policy certainty required for major project investments. It is very surprising that such a deeply damaging policy proposal has been cleared by the Treasury.”(10)
Leonie Green at the STA says DECC officials have effectively said that solar is the easiest target for balancing their overspent Levy Control Framework (LCF) books. The solar industry is being treated as some sort of pop-up side-show for balancing the LCF books, while other technologies enjoy at least a level of stability. The government is bending over backwards to provide stability to the French nuclear industry. It eulogises about opening up your local park and the strata beneath your home to the American fracking industry. No wonder the British solar industry is incredulous.(11)
- Business Green 15th May 2014
- Daily Mail 24th April 2014
- BBC 24th April 2014
- Times 24th April 2014
- Carbon Brief 24th April 2014
- Carbon Brief 8th May 2014
- Business Green 13th May 2014
- Consultation on changes to financial support for solar PV, DECC 13th May 2014
- Business Green 13th May 2014
- Edie 13th May 2014
- Business Green 15th May 2014