The introduction of solar panels feed-in tariffs to the energy bill may not sound enthralling. Yet it is raising blood pressure among green groups, politicians and government officials alike.
Liberal Democrat, Conservative and backbench Labour MPs, along with environmental groups, have been calling for a tariff to offer incentives for households, businesses and communities to generate energy from renewable sources (such as solar panels, wind or biomass) and feed it back into the national grid.
This would move us towards our target of generating 15% of UK energy from renewable sources by 2020. We are currently hovering around 2%, lagging behind all of Europe except Malta and Luxembourg. We need all the incentives we can employ.
Germany introduced a feed-in tariff in 1990 and has seen its renewable energy market soar. Domestic turnover in 2007 was €25bn, with 250,000 people employed in the renewables sector. This is exactly the kind of boost that we need, particularly if recession continues to bite.
The good news is that the government has finally introduced a power in the bill to create solar panels feed-in tariffs. Yet collective blood pressure is still high, as the concession is too vague to offer certainty that they will be set up within the next two years, or introduced in a workable form. The power is deliberately broad to give officials space to work out the details later.
Energy minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath demonstrated the government’s lack of urgency, saying: “Our hope is that a feed-in tariff scheme will be operational in 2010 … I have to say that this is a hope, and I cannot give that as an absolute commitment … ”
His commitment to a renewable heat incentive was even vaguer. Almost half the UK’s carbon emissions are generated through heat, yet the minister could not even promise to make a start on the detail by 2010.
In August a campaign was launched to highlight the serious risk of a climate change “tipping point” in 100 months. Every day that we dither and delay is another day closer to that tipping point where we can no longer stop irreversible climate change.
We need to start doing government in a new way. There is no time for yet another consultation, another green paper, or another review. Far better to get a tariff up and running, and then refine it as we go along. If we wait until the mechanism is perfect, it will never happen. And we can draw on the wisdom of schemes that have already been set up in other countries.
Now is the time to pull out the stops and ensure that feed-in tariffs are up and running within 12 months. Any less is not enough.
Source - The Guardian
Showing posts with label energy bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy bill. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Sunday, 26 October 2008
PV solar panels and feed-in-tariffs
Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the UK, said yesterday in a presentation to the House of Lords that he intends to amend the current energy bill that goes before the Houses of Parliament next week. The amendment should see the inclusion of a feed-in-tariff for the micro-generation of renewable energies.
The newly-formed Department of Energy and Climate Change was created by the Prime Minister on the 3rd of October to “give an even greater focus to solving the twin challenges of climate change and energy supply.”
Ed Miliband said in his speech to Parliament, “…but having heard the debate on this issue, including from many colleagues in this House, I also believe that complementing the renewables obligation for large-scale projects, guaranteed prices for small-scale electricity generation, feed-in-tariffs, have the potential to play an important role, as they do in other countries.”
The UK has signed on to the EU directive to produce 20% of all energy through renewable sources by 2020. However, the UK government has come under much criticism over the past few years for doing little to achieve this goal. Should the current scheme of ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) remain as it is, then the UK will only achieve 5% by 2020.
The move by the Prime Minister to create the new department has been met with wide approval from such industry associations as REA (Renewable Energy Association) and the STA (Solar Trade Association). The amendment was lobbied for by REA acting on behalf of over 35 organisations including Sharp UK, Schott UK and Solar Century.
The UK energy market was the equivalent of 232.1 million tons of oil in 2006. Currently, less than 2% of energy is produced by renewables.
There are three crystalline module manufacturers in the UK: Sharp in Wales, a company that converted their VCR factory, GB SOl and Romag. G24i is working with thin films and PV Crystalox is the only ingot manufacturer in the UK.
The UK renewable energy strategy consultation document outlines a possible feed-in tariff system.
Source - PV Tech
The newly-formed Department of Energy and Climate Change was created by the Prime Minister on the 3rd of October to “give an even greater focus to solving the twin challenges of climate change and energy supply.”
Ed Miliband said in his speech to Parliament, “…but having heard the debate on this issue, including from many colleagues in this House, I also believe that complementing the renewables obligation for large-scale projects, guaranteed prices for small-scale electricity generation, feed-in-tariffs, have the potential to play an important role, as they do in other countries.”
The UK has signed on to the EU directive to produce 20% of all energy through renewable sources by 2020. However, the UK government has come under much criticism over the past few years for doing little to achieve this goal. Should the current scheme of ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) remain as it is, then the UK will only achieve 5% by 2020.
The move by the Prime Minister to create the new department has been met with wide approval from such industry associations as REA (Renewable Energy Association) and the STA (Solar Trade Association). The amendment was lobbied for by REA acting on behalf of over 35 organisations including Sharp UK, Schott UK and Solar Century.
The UK energy market was the equivalent of 232.1 million tons of oil in 2006. Currently, less than 2% of energy is produced by renewables.
There are three crystalline module manufacturers in the UK: Sharp in Wales, a company that converted their VCR factory, GB SOl and Romag. G24i is working with thin films and PV Crystalox is the only ingot manufacturer in the UK.
The UK renewable energy strategy consultation document outlines a possible feed-in tariff system.
Source - PV Tech
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