UK Government Pushes On With Ending Onshore Wind Subsidies, Includes Grace Period
The UK government has announced it intends to push on with ending public subsidies for onshore wind farms, but has included a grace period to soften the blow.
In an announcement made Thursday, the country’s Energy Minister, Lord Bourne, revealed that the UK government would be closing the Renewables Obligation across the UK from 1 April, 2016, as had been expected for some time now. However, amendments were made to the Energy Bill, setting out grace period criteria which intend to “provide further certainty for investors.”
Specifically, the government predicts around 2.9 GW of onshore wind capacity will be eligible for the grace period criteria.
The government also believes that, even with the closure of the Renewables Obligation scheme, 12.3 GW of new onshore wind capacity can still be installed by 2020.
The government outlined the following criteria for inclusion in the grace period: that a project would “need to demonstrate either that they had planning consent as at 18 June; that they have successfully appealed a planning refusal made on or before 18 June; or that they have successfully appealed after not receiving a planning decision due by 18 June.” Furthermore, projects will also need to show they had a grid connection and land rights already in place.
This will allow projects affected by the uncertainty of the Renewables Obligation scheme, which have struggled to conclude funding, will be allowed extra time beyond April 1, but no longer than 9 months.
“We have a long-term plan to keep the lights on and our homes warm, power the economy with cleaner energy, and keep bills as low as possible for hard-working families and businesses,” said Energy Minister Lord Bourne. “To do this we will help technologies stand on their own two feet, not encourage a reliance on public subsidies. By bringing forward these amendments we are protecting bill payers whilst meeting our renewable energy commitments.”
The news has also been both welcomed and condemned by trade organizations.
“While we need to assess the precise impact of the announcement, it is clear that government has sought to address some unintended consequences of the decision to close the RO, for example, giving more time to projects unable to access finance because of the uncertainty created by the closure,” said Michael Rieley, Senior Policy Manager for Scottish Renewables. “However, many of our members will be bitterly disappointed that ministers are not going to allow projects which have submitted planning applications to be given a grace period.”
“This announcement means that wind farm companies can now go ahead and fully invest in local wind farm projects,”
said RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive, Maf Smith. “It’s good to see that Government has acknowledged the financial uncertainty caused by these changes and the additional time offered will help rebuild investor certainty.”
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They are gonna feel pretty silly when they end up having to buy lots of electricity from the Scottish and their wind turbines.
Keep pushing the health cost of fossil fuels along with the affordability of renewable energy as much as possible, in as many places as possible.
As people realize the danger of fossil fuels and that we have an affordable alternative the transition off fossil fuels will speed up.
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Will the Energy Minister apply this philosophy to all energy sources, not just wind? Does this apply to Hinckley and do all the fossil fuel subsidies get eliminated?
I think not. It’s just a cover story for the governments agenda.
Exactly.
“…we will help technologies stand on their own two feet, not encourage a reliance on public subsidies”
Then do this and end fossil fuel subsidies already!
How hard can it be for someone, anyone in the media to reply to these idiots with the question ‘and what about subsidies for ff and nuclear?’ It seems that all of their statements go unchallenged. Where are the journalists and interviewers who can make a stand against this nonsense?
American readers may need to know that in current British terminology the “Energy Minister” is in fact a deputy to the Secretary if State, Amber Rudd. She foisted the embarrassing climbdown off on a junior, and in the Lords who don’t bite back.
What is a “hard-working business”?
“What is a “hard-working business”?”
Lobbyists in Lonndon, obviously.
Conservative governments have declared war at all that can be a danger for the utilities/fossil energy industry with which they are so tied in all Europe. See, for example, what is happening in Denmark with EV taxes, and, furthermore, with the evil new Sun Tax in Spain where conservation politicians have a long story of being hired by the utilities after passing by government key posts.
“We have a long-term plan to keep the lights on and our homes warm, power the economy with cleaner energy, and keep bills as low as possible for hard-working families and businesses,” said Energy Minister Lord Bourne. “To do this we will help technologies stand on their own two feet, not encourage a reliance on public subsidies. By bringing forward these amendments we are protecting bill payers whilst meeting our renewable energy commitments.”
In this statement by Bourne we have all the evidence of the corrupt and duplicitous nature of the present Tory party and it’s power backers.
Protecting existing industries that run on fossil fuels and nuclear, while crippling the new cleaner technologies and the consumer pays a much higher price, directly through taxation and health related issues which inevitably end up costing the National Health Service which is consumer backed and have to deal with the consequences of corrupt politicians.