Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

UK Government Publishes Electricity White Paper and Renewables Roadmap

The Government today published a new Electricity White Paper and a Roadmap for Renewables to 2020.

The Electricity Market Reform White Paper sets out measures to attract investment, reduce the impact on consumer bills, and create a mix of electricity sources including gas, new nuclear, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.

The Renewables Roadmap published alongside this outlines a plan of action to accelerate renewable energy deployment to meet the target of 15% of all energy by 2020.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne said:

Further Doubt for UK Offshore Wind Industry

Offshore wind energy may not be needed to meet UK climate change targets according to a new report by the UK’s Committee for Climate Change.

The report recommends that “if a set of alternative options can be found to meet the EU renewable energy target, then offshore wind ambition in 2020 could be moderated.”

RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, said:

UK Government issues Changed Energy Policy Guidance

The UK coalition government has re-issued national policy statements for energy.

The original draft statements were released for consultation by the Labour government late last year but have now been revisited and changed by the current government. The 6 changed energy documents are now being consulted on with the deadline for comments 24th January 2011.

Green Jobs Threatened By Government Cuts

Green jobs could be threatened by UK government spending cuts it has emerged this week.
Government departments are for the first time facing 25% budget reductions and this is expected to have significant consequences for the country.
One area of public spending at risk is ‘The Ports fund’. The fund was announced by the Labour government [...]

German Companies Join Forces to Build UK Offshore Wind Farm

German utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM) has bought a 30% stake in RWE Innogy’s Liverpool Bay wind farm Gwynt Y Mor.

According to industry sources, the company has been looking for a finance partner to share the £2bn offshore wind investment required for well over a year. Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens has also bought a 10% stake in the project.

GE to Create 2000 Green Jobs in the UK

Wind turbine manufacturer GE announced this week that it plans to spend 110m Euros (US$147m) and create up to 2000 green jobs in the UK. The company is to join other wind turbine manufacturers who have recently decided to invest heavily in the UK offshore wind energy market.

GE plans to build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing base in the UK and will also create application and service engineering centres around the country. GE say the investment will follow the successful outcome of the UK governments grid infrastructure competition which is intended to make the roll out of Round 3 UK offshore wind a reality. The company wants to develop a 4 Megawatt capacity wind turbine.

President and CEO of GE International Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco said;

Offshore Wind Energy Credits Extended

It has been a good financial week for renewable energy with the European Union agreeing to fund 7.2 billion euros for tackling global warming at Copenhagen. Also this week, the UK Government announced further financial help for offshore wind. Thursday’s pre-budget report proposed an extension to the time limit on double credits for offshore wind energy projects.

Offshore wind energy projects operational before 2014 will recieve 2 renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) rather than the 1 ROC onshore wind energy recieves.

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomed Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report commitment to maintain support for offshore wind energy at 2 ROCs per megawatt hour (MWh) to 2014. The UK is the world leader in offshore wind with more projects installed, in planning and in construction than any other country in the world. The BWEA anticipate that by 2020 at least 20,000MW of offshore wind will be installed and operating in UK waters.

New Renewable Energy Planning Statement Released

After over a year of preparation, the Government has released a new UK national policy statement on renewable energy.

The statement is one of a series of NPS (National Planning Statements) documents intended to guide the new Infrastructure Planning Committee (IPC) in coming to decisions on large scale infrastructure projects. The statements will set out criteria on national need, benefits and impacts. With the exception of the NPS for airports and nuclear power stations, sites are not identified for specific proposals.

The Renewable Energy NPS applies specifically to biomass and onshore wind energy projects comprising 50 Megawatts + and to offshore wind energy projects, including the substations and new overhead power lines.