Department of Energy and Climate Change

Renewable energy

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is a vital component of the UK’s diverse energy mix. In offshore wind, we have one of the best natural resources in Europe and the UK already leads the world in offshore wind farms. We are also leading the way in several developing technology areas like wave and tidal energy, where we also have the best natural resources in Europe.

Following a major consultation in 2008, we have now published our Renewable Energy Strategy including an Executive Summary. The Strategy sets out how we can increase our use of renewable energy to help tackle climate change and help secure our future energy supplies. Our target is to source 15 percent of our energy (electricity, heat and transport) from renewable sources by 2020.

The Renewable Energy Strategy is a key part of the Government’s UK Low Carbon Transition Plan.

National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure

On 9 November 2009, the Government announced a consultation on a series of draft National Policy Statements to assist in energy infrastructure planning, and which will apply to nuclear, fossil fuels, renewables, transmission networks, and oil and gas pipelines. Once finalised and approved in 2010, they will be used by the Infrastructure Planning Commission to make decisions on applications for development consent for nationally significant energy infrastructure.

The consultation on the National Policy Statements will close on 22 February 2010. To find out more about the Statements and respond to the consultation, visit DECC’s Consultation on draft National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure website.

In this section of the website you will find more information about renewable energy, including: 

  • the different types of renewable energy
  • UK policy on renewable energy
  • our consultation on changes to the Renewables Obligation and the feed-in tariff to support small scale generation
  • the Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study
  • the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED)
  • support for business, investors and communities engaging in renewables projects
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