6 February 2012: RENEWABLES OBLIGATION BANDING REVIEW CONSULTATION – UPDATE
The consultation on the UK Renewables Obligation Banding Review proposals closed on 12 January. Around 4,000 responses have been received and we are analysing these carefully to ensure that we take into consideration all comments and new evidence received.
We aim to publish the UK Government’s response to the consultation this Spring and legislate in the Summer. The regulations setting the new bands in law will take effect on 1 April 2013.
12 JANUARY 2012: RENEWABLES OBLIGATION BANDING REVIEW CONSULTATION - UPDATE
A report by Pöyry is published today. This report presents the results of analysis that Pöyry has undertaken for the review of bands to take effect under the Renewables Obligation from 1 April 2013. The key results of the analysis were set out in the consultation stage Impact Assessment published on 12 November.
9 November 2011: Renewables Obligation Banding Review consultation - update
A draft Impact Assessment and draft Renewables Obligation Order 2012 to accompany the public consultation on the Renewables Obligation Banding Review are published today. Also published is a questionnaire which we encourage stakeholders to use when submitting evidence of full-life generation costs of renewable electricity technologies as part of their consultation response. These documents are available on the Renewables Obligation Banding Review consultation web page.
Consultation on the Northern Ireland RO
On 27 October, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Northern Ireland published its consultation paper on proposals to change the Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation. The consultation will close on 19 January 2012.
20 October 2011: Renewables Obligation Banding Review consultation
Proposals for the levels of banded support available for renewable electricity generation under the Renewables Obligation for the period 2013-17 in England and Wales were published on 20 October 2011. The consultation will run until 12 January 2012.
Please use the response form provided to submit your response or you can respond online using the DECC e-consultation hub.
Scottish Government's consultation
On 21 October 2011, the Scottish Government published its consultation paper on changes to the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2011 (the ROS). The consultation will close on 13 January 2012.
A separate consultation on banding changes to the Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation will be published by the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Investment Northern Ireland shortly.
30 September 2011: Calculating the obligation
Article 12(4) of the Renewables Obligation Order 2009 requires the Secretary of State to publish, by 1 October preceding an obligation period, the number of Renewables Obligation certificates a designated electricity supplier is required to produce in respect of each megawatt hour of electricity it supplies to customers in England and Wales during that period in order to discharge its renewables obligation for that period.
The Department can today confirm the obligation level for suppliers to customers in England and Wales for the period running 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 has been set by using Calculation B and will be 0.158 ROCs per MWh (megawatt hour).
The obligation level for supplies to customers in England and Wales for the period running from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 is 0.124 ROCs per MWh.
10 June 2011: Publication of report by Arup on Renewable electricity technologies in the UK
DECC published an independent study on projected costs and deployment potential for different renewable electricity technologies up to 2030.
The aim of the study – undertaken by Arup - is to provide baseline data to inform a consultation this summer on support levels for a range of renewable electricity technologies for the period 2013-17 under the Renewables Obligation. The study is an independent assessment of scope and potential of technologies, and not a statement of government policy.
16 December 2010: Government response to the statutory consultation on Renewables Obligation Order 2011
The Government response to the consultation on changes to the RO (which would come into effect on 1 April 2011) has now been published. Full details are available on the Statutory Consultation on the Renewables Obligation Order 2011 (ROO 2011) web page.
8 December 2010: Renewables Obligation Banding Review 2013 – acceleration of review timetable
Energy Minister Charles Hendry announced today the timetable for the 2013 RO Banding Review is being sped up. The original timetable set out in the RO Banding Review Process document below indicated the Government would launch a statutory consultation on new banding proposals in spring 2012 and announce its decision on banding levels by autumn 2012. DECC now intends to consult on new banding proposals in summer 2011 and confirm the new bands by autumn 2011 – one full year ahead of schedule. The new bands will still come into effect as planned on 1 April 2013 (1 April 2014 for offshore wind), subject to Parliamentary and State Aids approval.
Under the previously announced timetable, investors would not have known for certain what support they could have expected to receive until autumn 2012 at the earliest. The Government was concerned this might delay early investment in certain technologies and hinder the UK’s ability to meet our EU target for 15% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. We believe the accelerated timetable for the banding review will give investors and developers greater certainty and confidence to help bring forward the scale of renewables developments needed to deliver the target and other important energy and climate change objectives.
The current review started in October this year with the appointment of Arup and Ernst & Young to review the market costs and potential of eligible renewable electricity technologies to provide the economic and technical evidence to underpin the revision of the RO bands. The report of this first phase of work is due to be delivered to DECC at the end of February 2011. We are today also inviting expressions of interest from qualified companies to undertake a project to model the impacts of different banding scenarios. This phase of the work will draw on the results of the Arup and Ernst & Young work and inform the development of DECC’s consultation proposals, which we aim to publish in July 2011.
November 2010: Stakeholder information gathering exercise
As mentioned below, DECC has recently launched the scheduled RO banding review. We have commissioned independent consultants Arup and Ernst & Young to assess the deployment potential and generation costs of renewable electricity technologies.
If you would like to contribute to the Arup and Ernst & Young stakeholder information gathering exercise, have not already been contacted directly, and have a strong interest/detailed knowledge in this area (e.g. generation costs for a prospective project in a particular technology), please contact the banding review team at Kieran.Power@decc.gsi.gov.uk by Friday 10 December. In your email, please describe your interests in the issue and outline the nature of the information that you wish to contribute.
If you make contact after this time, we will endeavor to use your input, but we might not be able to do so.
October 2010: Result of competitive tender
DECC is pleased to announce that, following competitive tender, we have selected ARUP to take forward the renewable technology costs project that will inform the 2013 Banding Review.
The project will look at the costs and revenues of eligible technologies to help determine the levels of support these might require going forward.
ARUP will be in touch with stakeholders shortly to discuss costs. We thank you in advance for your cooperation.