Statutory consultation on the Renewables Obligation Order 2009
On 26 June 2008, the Government published a statutory consultation on implementing banding of the Renewables Obligation. The consultation closed on 30 September 2008.
The Government response to the statutory consultation, setting out our decisions on the detail of implementing banding, was published on 2 December 2008. This builds on our announcement in the 'Pre-budget report' on 24 November to extend the Renewables Obligation from its current end date of 2027 to at least 2037.
Banding the Renewables Obligation
On 23 May 2007, a second consultation was published, setting out further detail on the proposal to band the Renewables Obligation alongside the Energy white paper - meeting the energy challenge. The consultation closed on 6 September 2007.
The Energy review and banding the Renewables Obligation, and the Renewables Obligation Order 2007
As part of the '2006 Energy review', ways in which the Renewables Obligation (RO) could be changed to encourage a larger contribution from emerging renewable technologies was looked at. At the same time, we carried out a review of co-firing under the RO. We then announced changes to the RO, which would provide different support levels for different renewables technologies. These are known as banding, and they give additional certainty on long-term Renewable Obligation Certificate prices.
On 9 October 2006, we published an initial consultation on proposals to band the RO, accompanied by papers looking at the sustainability and economics of co-firing. This closed on 5 January 2007. It also contained proposals for a small number of more limited and detailed changes to the RO legislation, to be brought into force for 1 April 2007. This part of the consultation closed on 15 December 2006.
The 2005/06 Renewables Obligation review
In the Energy white paper 2003: ‘Our energy future: creating a low-carbon economy’ a commitment was made to a review of the Renewables Obligation (RO) in 2005, after three years of operational experience. The terms of reference for the review were published in November 2004. These provided for a limited review of the RO framework, guided by our intention to maintain confidence in the long-term stability of the RO. We published a preliminary consultation document in March 2005. This set out the key issues in each area of the review and the considerations that would guide our decision-making.The statutory consultation document, published in October 2005, set out our proposed position and sought views on changes to the Renewables Obligation Order 2005, the Regulatory Impact Assessment and the draft Order. The changes discussed were to:
- make some limited changes to the eligibility of electricity generated from mixed wastes
- modify future rules for low-cost technologies
- simplify the administrative arrangements for the RO
Preliminary consultation
Statutory consultation
The Renewables Obligation Order 2005
A consultation paper seeking views on a number of limited changes to the Renewables Obligation Order was published on 8 September 2004. It aims to secure the Renewables Obligation and further improve its operation. The consultation closed on 1 December 2004.
Summary responses
Government responses
The Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2004
In August 2003, a statutory consultation was issued which set out some technical adjustments to the Renewables Obligation. It also included proposals to allow small generators to qualify for ROCs, and some changes to the rules on co-firing.
In addition, following failures by some suppliers to make their buy-out fund payment in time, we launched a statutory consultation to allow late payments.
The Renewables Obligation Order 2002
In March 1999, responding to a manifesto commitment to develop renewable sources of energy, a report was commissioned to update the 1994 ‘Assessment of renewable energy for the UK’, prepared by ETSU.
We then decided to introduce powers in the Utilities Bill to allow the introduction of a Renewables Obligation (RO). In February 2000, we published a public consultation to assist the discussion of powers in the Bill. We followed this in October 2000 with a consultation on the mechanism for the RO.
We published a response to this consultation in March 2001, alongside the Draft Renewables Obligation Order. A statutory consultation on the Order was issued in August 2001.