Renew On Line (UK) 28

Extracts from the Sept-Oct 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

In the run up to SR2000, the Governments annual spending review in July, there was a flurry of bids and lobbying for more money for sustainable energy. SERA, the Labour Party affiliated Socialist Environment and Resources Association, called for the renewable energy R&D budget to be increased from its present level of £14m (£18m for 2001/2) to £50m p.a It also called for transitional market support for key technologies, including offshore wind, solar energy and wave energy, of £100m. And it wanted a £50m p.a increase in the Energy Efficiency Fund, currently allocated £50m, to be funded by a 5% p.a increase in the Climate Change Levy. And for good measure, it called for the post-2001 Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) to be increased from £175m to £500m. Together with an equivalent contribution from industry through the Energy Efficiency Standards of Performance programme, that should, say SERA, provide the £10bn needed to eliminate fuel poverty by 2010.

The renewables industry itself also came forward with figures illustrating what it felt was needed. According to the FT Renewable Energy Report (16), the wind lobby felt that £20-30m pa was the ‘minimum level of spend over the next 3-5 years if a UK offshore wind industry is to be created’- then it would be on the way to providing 1GW of cost-competitive capacity. The energy crops lobby talked in terms of £30m p.a to support generators, to complement the £30m p.a already allocated by MAFF to support growers.

And what about wave energy? That too had been promised some extra support. When he was Energy Minister, John Battle said that he would ‘expand the objectives of the Department's new and renewable energy programme to include new work on wave energy technology’. For the moment, the SRO funding is all there is for wave, plus maybe a little from the R&D budget, so something more was clearly hoped for.

However, the FT (20/6) dashed some of these hopes by suggesting that renewables would only be given an extra £25m over three years from the £50m to be allocated for green energy projects each year from the Climate Change Levy, but with £10m of this going to offshore wind. The BWEA welcomed this idea, but pointed out that £10m wouldn’t go far.

SR 2000 - £40m for new renewables?

In the event, although it seems to have £43bn to spend overall, the government evidently wasn’t able or willing to offer very much for renewables. Details have yet to emerge, but it looks like what are being called ‘non-convergent technologies’ (i.e renewables, like offshore wind, which have yet to converge on competitive prices) will get a special grant of £40m over three years. In addition, according to what Anna Walker told the recent PRASEG conference (see report right), it seems that the government will be providing a subsidy of up to £150m p.a, to support the continuation of existing NFFO contracts under the new Renewable Obligation arrangements, with contracts for new projects running for 18 years. Sounds useful, if confirmed.

However, all that’s been formally confirmed so far is that there would be £27m from the SR2000 to ‘accelerate business take-up of energy efficient technologies’ through the creation of a new Carbon Trust, and that there would be ‘a major new low carbon R&D and demonstration programme to bring forward low carbon technologies’. In addition £30m has been allocated to an Emissions Trading Incentive Scheme. Details in Renew 128.