UK needs stronger renewables policies

The Renewable Energy Association (REA), a renewables sector lobby group, has said that the UK needs ‘much bolder and broader’ policies if we are to meet our renewable energy generation targets. The Government has committed to producing at least 15% of our energy from renewable sources by 2015 and 20% by 2020. But according to the REA’s report, we won’t achieve these targets unless our renewable energy policies are strengthened to encourage new and existing technologies to develop more quickly.

At the moment, the UK’s renewables industry is worth around £12.5 billion. This is expected to rise to around £24 billion by 2015 – but the figure will need to be nearer £50 billion if we are to meet our binding EU targets. The REA also said the number of people employed in the sector will need to increase by almost 300,000 to more than 400,000 by 2020.

The REA did acknowledge that the UK has ‘broadly positive’ policies in place for developing offshore wind, wave and tidal energy – such as the £20 million MEADand £25 million floating wind turbine schemeswe reported on recently. However, the group says the Government must invest more in developing other technologies such as anaerobic digestion, biomass and geothermal energy.

Energy Minister Greg Barker has voiced his commitment to meeting the UK’s renewable energy targets. He also said the UK will be working with other countries in a bid to speed up the development of new technologies, such as the recently-announced partnership with the USA to work on the floating offshore wind turbine project.

Wilding says: As the REA says, the UK needs a “renewable energy revolution” if we are to grow the sector effectively and meet our EU targets. Hopefully we will see more initiatives being announced in the near future to help the more under-invested technologies to become industrialised.

Source:Bloomberg