A new consultation by the Department of Communities and Local government is looking for feedback on the proposals to change the way local government is funded by introducing the retention of business rates.

It is expected that business rate revenues from new renewable energy projects will be kept by the local councils within the area of the project, and that they will be discounted in the calculation of any levy that might be applied to growth in business rate revenues.

The government believes that this move may make renewable energy projects more attractive to local councils. However given the money is unlikely to be dished out to those living closest to the developments is it likely to transform the views of those against proposals? Even if it were – are people interested in the money or would it be enough? Answers to these questions may well come out of the consultation which closes in October.

Many forests owned by the Forestry Commission are potentially suitable for tourism, leisure and renewable energy projects such as wind farms, as well as commercial forestry. Indeed such projects already exist in the UK’s publically owned forests from wind farms to Go Ape ‘tree top adventures’.

Writing on the subject in the Guardian on 22nd December, John Vudal believes that due to large Tory populations living near to English forestry areas, local objections may scupper the government’s plans. Vidal believes opposition to commercial development will mean a wholesale disposal may not happen. What is not mentioned however is that there are already these developments on Forestry Commission land and plans for further wind farms and recreation projects underway.

The Forestry Commission approach under the previous Labour government was to retain the land in its ownership and grant leases to private companies to develop commercial projects. This in turn will secure a medium to long term profit from the projects run by the private sector. The plan under this coalition government according to a Jim Paice at a House of Lords select committee report is to reform the Commission to allow for a ‘very substantial disposal of public forest estate‘.

It is not, as John Vudal suggests human made influence or development which in itself threatens our forests – whether the development be tourism, recreation or renewable energy. Indeed these forests are human made and it makes sense to try and make the forest estate self sufficient to secure its long term future.

The wider benefits social and economic benefits of our forests are sometimes difficult to measure but very real. In Wales previously deprived areas such as villages around Afan Forest near Swansea, have seen new life injected into them due to investment in recreation in the forest – in particular mountain biking. Further investment in recreation is to come from wind farm projects elsewhere in Wales, in turn leading to economic benefits to communities.

Inevitably the forest sale is causing a stir with a major petition ‘save our forests’ launched and people like Jonathan Porritt speaking out against politicians like MP Mark Harper for supporting the goverment’s proposals. According to Porritt “Mark Harper stood for election saying one thing (maintain the Forest of Dean as part of the Public Forest Estate) only to say something completely different (flog it off as soon as possible) now that he’s got a toehold on that greasy ministerial pole“.

This government should reform the Commission to allow it to create a public forest which accommodates ecological, environmental, recreational and social needs, whilst making it financially sustainable. With political will and a bit of long term vision this may be challenging but is certainly achievable- given the vast area of forest owned by the Commission. A consultation document is due to be published early this year when the government is proposing to look at all of the options.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by ten ministers from countries bordering the north sea. The memorandum is an agreement to deliver an offshore electricity grid facilitating the interconnection of offshore energy installations such as wind farms with European countries separated by the north sea and Norway.

The ministers have agreed to start working on regulatory and technical matters with an objective of sourcing electricity from a wider European geographical pool of generators. This is expected by the ministers to both increase use of renewable electricity and reduce the cost to the consumer.

Dr Gordon Edge, Renewable UK’s Director of policy said:
“Large scale interconnection with our European neighbours is vital if we are to connect up our massive offshore wind potential and integrate it into European Markets. Today’s agreement is a vital first step forward in agreeing the rules of the game without which investment cannot happen.”

By setting the ambitious target, Salmond has confirmed Scotland’s status as a global leader in the renewable energy field.  Scotland now hosts a substantial number of wind farms and is expected to meet an interim target of 31% renewable energy by 2011.

Salmond said “Scotland is blessed with abundant natural energy sources, particularly in our seas, where Scotland is estimated to have a quarter of Europe’s potential wind and tidal energy capacity and a tenth of its wave resource. We are already on the path to a low carbon economy and Scotland gets nearly a quarter of it electricity from green sources.

Scotland is ideally-placed to help lead the renewables revolution and taking account of the levels of planned investment over the next decade, I believe it is now time to aim higher and to go further.

Recent work by Scottish Enterprise has shown the huge potential for employment in the renewable industry, with up to 28,000 direct jobs being created to service the Scottish, UK and worldwide markets for offshore wind turbines. It has also been estimated that 60,000 new green jobs could be created by 2020 in low carbon industries

Strong leadership is needed across government and industry to attract the investment to deliver these jobs, so the Scottish Government is today raising the renewable generation target for 2020 to 80 per cent.

We already have some seven Gigawatts of renewables capacity installed, under construction or consented around Scotland. Given the scale of lease agreements now in place to develop offshore wind, wave and tidal projects over the next decade it is clear that we can well exceed the existing 50 per cent target by 2020.

It is vital that all of us work with ambition and vision to seize the moment and secure a sustainable future for the next generation.“

Sustainability efforts from large corporations are increasing, yet our dependence on fossil fuels remains steadfast. Mining and drilling for fossil fuels can be dangerous and costly, and the planet is constantly reminding us that it’s the one paying the price. It’s here that we see plenty of opportunity for clean and renewable energies to become part of the landscape. With the right funding and investment, renewable energy technology like wind power could help turn the tide when it comes to environmental concerns.

Wind power is a clean energy system that converts the planet’s own wind into energy by using mills, turbines, and even airborne kites. The earth’s wind moves the mills that turn the turbines, which converts kinetic energy into electricity that then can be circulated to power thousands of homes. Up to this point, wind power has been a well-known clean energy source but has mostly been underutilized and under funded. However, with the web search company Google now investing in the technology, wind power is beginning to appeal to a very broad market.

Last Friday, Google made a sizable investment of $38 million to North Dakota based wind farms. These wind farms harness the wind energy of the North Dakota plains to create electricity that can power more than 55,000 homes and does so in a clean and safe manner. Google understands that an investment of this size, in a technology as beneficial as wind energy, can help create more wind farms around the country, create more jobs within this clean energy, and help stimulate the economy. For Google, it’s as much about helping the environment, as it’s about making smart business decisions about the future of this planet.

Other corporations like Globetrotters Corporation (a Chicago based engineering corporation founded by C.E.O. Niranjan Shah) and Hewlett-Packard are following in the same footsteps as Google. These companies are coming to the conclusion that investing in green technology and green energy is really an investment in the future of the technology, the planet, and even their own businesses.

I guess, it looks like Google realizes which direction the wind is blowing.

Guest post by Jack Lundee
http://everythingleft.wordpress.com/
http://twitter.com/j_lundee

With election campaigning in full flow, all the main UK political parties are desperate to show off their green credentials. Voters however want to know whether politicians are serious about tackling climate change or merely pushing for a bit of rooftop solar panel or wind turbine tokenism. The ComRes survey of 101 prospective MPs gives us an idea as to which really is the greenest party of them all.

All of the main partys’ manifestos say that they support the current UK 15% renewable energy target by 2020 however this is not reflected by all prospective MPs seeking a seat. The new survey reveals that 54% prospective Conservative MPs disagree with our current renewable energy targets with only 22% strongly supporting them. The Lib Dems came out the greenest of the 3 biggest parties with 71% strongly supporting the current commitments. Over half Labour MPs (56%) said they strongly supported the targets whilst none disagreed with them.

85% of the survey group agree that investment in new electricity grid infrastructure and renewable generation, including wind farms is a top priority over the next 20 years. Liberal Democrats are the keenest on investment with 100% agreeing strongly. Labour representatives are most keen to ‘ensure large energy infrastructure projects progress quickly through the planning system’ with 83% agreeing or agreeing strongly.

Adam Bell, Embrace Campaign Coordinator at RenewableUK said:

“This poll suggests that there is a certain amount of disconnect between the voters and political candidates. Year after year, independent polls suggest that over 80% of the people in this country support further deployment of wind energy. Politicians need to be told that NIMBYs don’t represent how British people actually think.”

The study investigated the sales of 7,500 homes between 1996 and 2007 located within 10 miles of 24 operational wind farms. These sales included homes within a mile of wind farms. Specifically, neither the view of the wind farm facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have any consistent, measurable and statistically significant effect on home sales.

The study concludes that ‘although the analysis cannot dismiss the possibility that individual homes have been or could be negatively impacted, it finds that if these impacts do exist, they are either too small and too infrequent to result in any widespread observable impact’.

Criticism is made in the study to other surveys looking at the possible impact of wind energy projects on house prices. It claims that only a few studies included field visits to homes to determine wind turbine visibility and collect other important information about the home e.g. the quality of the scenic vista.

The Obama promise of a 17% emissions reduction target below 2005 levels by 2020 were welcomed by some but described as inadequate by green groups. However a much smaller sector has been striving for media attention. Describing prominent scientists who try to warn people about climate change as ‘totalitarian’, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips claimed on the BBC last night that ‘there is no evidence of global warming and that global temperatures are going down not up.’

Phillips told the gasping audience ‘you may find this hard to understand, but there is no evidence for global warming, the seas are not rising in any way out of the ordinary, the ice is not melting and the polar bears are increasing in number’. The audience, shocked by the claims were quickly becalmed by comedian and broadcaster Marcus Brigstocke, Scottish National Party deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Lord Falconer who were quick to point out the irresponsibility of not accepting the possibility.

Brigstocke responded agrily saying that 2009 was the hottest year on record and 2010 is predicted to be the hottest year on record. ‘The Inuit people of Greenland will tell you than year on year they are seeing dramatic changes and that the ice is reducing’ he said. ‘To say that the planet is not warming and that we do not have a responsibility to deal with that is grossly irresponsible’. An audience member said that Phillips’ attitude was ‘disgusting’. David Davis MP said that he is ‘agnostic on the issue’ but that we need to think ‘broadly about how we deal with it’ whatever this means.

David Davis says the problem is that making promises and targets is great propaganda but it does not deal with the issue. The chair asked Davis how if he were in government, he would pursue the policies. Davis responded that the Tories are very pro a strong agreement at Copenhagen but that his recommendation is to build sea defences bigger. Bearing in mind he opposes wind farms for visual and economic reasons, building massive new infrastructure seems a very short term and expensive approach, a bit like a gold sticking plaster. Also it is not clear who is going to pay for the Bangladesh flood defences?

Scottish first minister Sturgeon said that there are many people watching the programme whose lives have been wrecked by flooding over the past week and who won’t take kindly to being told that climate change is not a problem. She said to the doubters ‘give it the benefit of the doubt because if we do nothing and the doubters are wrong we are going to be in a worse position’.

Scotland is one of the few countries who is actually delivering on its targets. Scotland has just introduced legislation putting into statute world leading carbon emission reduction targets of 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 targets. Sturgeon wishes the UK government would let Scotland sit around the Copenhagen table because they are one of the few countries that have something positive to say on this issue.

So whilst the majority of people appear to agree that we should do something about climate change there are still those who believe we should not worry about taking any responsibility because ‘polar bears are increasing’. For the top ten deniers take a look at George Monbiot’s blog. My favourite is David Bellamy’s claim that “555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, have been growing since 1980″ (the WGMS responded that this was “complete bullshit”).

Conservative proposals include abolishing all planning and housing powers exercised by regional government, creating bottom up incentives for housebuilding by allowing councils to benefit from the increase in council tax revenues. They would also encourage councils to establish their own local enterprise partnerships to take over economic development functions.

In this decentralised scenario planners and industry groups have started to question where higher level housing and renewable energy targets would sit, given the need for the consideration of demand and supply opportunities somewhere between the national and local levels. This has previously been dealt with by either mid – tier county councils or regional governments.

Planning magazine reported recently that if the Conservative party are elected next year they would put in place local targets for housing delivery. The question is, would they also do this for renewable energy?

Although local targets would make local planning authorities very much more accountable for the provision of ‘their share’ of renewable energy, it is the process of establishing these targets that is likely to be problematic if the local target route is chosen.

Opportunites for renewable energy such as wind power are usually very localised, for example it is windier in coastal and upland areas with further opportunities in fenland and other geographically ‘uninhibited’ areas. Other factors such as grid capacity, radar conflict and national landscape designations however sometimes render whole (otherwise suitable) areas, undevelopable. It is for this reason that in the UK we have seen over the last 5 years, high numbers of planning applications for wind farms in relatively few districts and in some districts no planning applications for wind farms have been submitted.

Also of note is how ‘wrong’ some of the geographical sieve mapping work carried out to inform the illustrative local targets has proven to be. This has predominantly been down to an under- estimation of the potential in some areas and an understimation of the constraints in other areas. Targets set at a regional level allow more flexibility for those areas within the region with potential to be concentrated on if other areas are restricted for unforseen reasons.

This same sieve mapping could be proposed by the Conservatives to inform local renewable energy targets if they follow the same route as for housing. Geographical spatial planning is very useful when it is done thoroughly and takes all factors into account. This is relatively straightforward for housing or transport development. However wind energy can only be developed where the wind resource exists and where a grid connection and sufficient space exists. The technical constraints and opportunities to wind energy are much more complex than they are for housing and many other forms of development. It is therefore very easy to get target figures wrong – particularly very rigid localised targets. Unrealistic targets could mean the UK risks missing its 2020 renewable energy targets substantially.

If the Conservative party do get into power and take this route, they will need to put in place safeguards that ensure the local targets will all come together to meet the UK carbon reduction requirements.

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.

The renewable energy supportive NPS will also be a material consideration to be taken into account when authorities decide on projects under 50 Megwatts – (i.e smaller wind farms and biomass plants). The document will overide local planning policy if there is any conflict, for example with regard to new structures in locally protected landscapes.

The statement may concern planning authorities in Wales who have attempted to “refine” wind farm strategic search areas introduced by the Welsh Assembly. The NPS says that in order to give the refined boundaries weight, the IPC should be satisfied this is in accordance with Welsh Assembly guidance.

National landscape and ecological designations continue to be protected with a requirement that the objectives of these designations are not compromised and adverse effects are outweighed by environmental and social benefits.

Offshore wind energy developers will be expected to explain how they have drawn on the Governments strategic environmental assessment of UK waters in making their site selection. According to the NPS, strategic environmental assessment work carried out by the Government will be rolling and a research programme and data collection facility will inform future assessments. Offshore wind developers will need to identify onshore grid connection routes or “corridors” and in some cases the new grid infrastructure may be defined as a nationally significant infrastructure project in its own right.

For onshore wind farms the NPS notes that the technology is likely to continue to be an important contributor towards the UK’s energy needs. The NPS says that the time-limited and non-permanent nature of wind farms should be a relevant consideration when assessing the indirect effects of wind farms on the historic environment, for example the effects of wind farms on the setting of listed buildings or conservation areas. This is particularly helpful given that wind farms are only normally planned for 25 years, whereas historic buildings may have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years, with a continued long life ahead. Wind farms would probably be around for only the blink of the eye of some historic buildings.

According to the list of 11 energy projects in pre-planning compiled by the IPC four are onshore wind farms and one an offshore wind farm.
The progress of these projects will be watched closely by the energy industry.