About renewable energy policy
The Government is committed to increasing the proportion of energy we use from renewable sources. The UK has been blessed with a wealth of energy resources but the depletion of our domestic fossil fuels reserves, combined with projected growth in global energy demand, puts our security of energy supply at risk.
Exploiting our renewable resources will make a strong contribution to our energy needs and allow us to be less reliant on others.
Our drive to increase the proportion of energy we obtain from renewable sources will not only increase the security of energy supplies in the UK; it will also provide opportunities for investment in new industries and new technologies.
The Government will help business develop in this area to put the UK at the forefront of new renewable technologies and skills.
The Government believes climate change is one of the gravest threats we face and that urgent action at home and abroad is required. The development of renewable energy sources, alongside nuclear power and the development of carbon capture and storage, will also enable the UK to play its full part in international efforts to reduce the production of harmful greenhouse gases.
We, alongside other EU Member States, published our first Progress Report to the European Commission on our progress in increasing our use of renewable energy. The Report focuses on our renewables performance over the past two years (2009 and 2010) and provides a summary of the key policies and measures we have undertaken and are taking to increase their use.
The Government and Devolved Administrations have published a Renewable Energy Roadmap. The Roadmap sets out a comprehensive programme of targeted, practical actions to tackle the barriers to renewables deployment, enabling the level of renewable energy consumed in the UK to grow in line with our ambitions for 2020 and beyond. This will mean over a four-fold increase in our level of renewable energy consumption by the end of the decade.
The 2009 Renewable Energy Directive sets a target for the UK to achieve 15% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. This compares to 3% in 2009. While analysis demonstrates it is possible to achieve the target and industry say they have the capacity to deploy at the rate required, the scale of the increase over the next 10 years represents a huge challenge and will require strong contributions from all three sectors of electricity, heat and transport.
The Government has also asked the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) for advice on the level of ambition for renewables in 2020 and beyond, taking into account cost, technical potential, environmental impact and practical delivery. The Government's Renewable Energy Strategy lead scenario [2] suggests that by 2020 about 30% or more of our electricity – both centralised and small-scale generation – could come from renewable sources, compared to around 6.7% today [3]. The CCC, in initial advice to government in September 2010 on the UK's renewables ambition, agreed a contribution from renewable electricity of 30% of total generation by 2020 is appropriate in the context of the need to substantially decarbonise the power sector by 2030 (on the path to meeting the economy-wide target to reduce emissions by 80% relative to 1990 levels). The CCC published the second phase of their findings on 9th May 2011 and provided recommendations on the post 2020 ambition for renewables in the UK, as well as possible pathways to maximise their contribution to the 2050 carbon reduction targets. We will respond in detail to the Committee on Climate Change’s recent proposals in the Autumn, alongside the Annual Energy Statement and 4th Carbon Budget (for 2023-27).
The Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) has the job within government of ensuring we meet our targets for renewable energy.