Leading environmental organisation RSPB is calling for a renewed commitment by the UK Government to renewable energy the day after the UK Government's consultation on whether support for renewable energy projects should continue beyond 2020 closed.
The consultation asks whether subsidy regulations for renewable energy should be changed to allow the Government to support projects due to start between 2020 and 2026. Although the UK Government has recently cut support for onshore wind and solar, it has indicated it will provide further support for offshore wind and potentially other ‘less established’ technologies.
RSPB said it welcomes the proposal to formally extend the Government’s powers to fund renewable energy into the 2020s, highlighting the need to boost investor confidence in the UK as a good place to do business for renewable energy.
Although the NGO strongly resists renewable energy proposals where they are expected to have unacceptable wildlife impacts, RSPB said it supports large-scale expansion of carefully-planned renewable energy across the UK and does not object to over 90% of sites. In its recent report, ‘The RSPB’s 2050 Energy Vision’, a mapping analysis showed how the UK can deliver its climate targets using ambitious levels of renewable energy, without major risks to sensitive species and habitats.
The report concluded that renewable energy should be prioritised in the UK’s energy strategy, with continued growth of onshore wind, solar and offshore renewables in addition to reducing energy demand.
The report also highlighted major opportunities to develop renewable energy in deeper waters around the UK, using innovative technologies like floating turbines to harness strong winds further offshore. The RSPB has called on the UK Government to invest in understanding the impacts of floating wind technology and overcoming any barriers to sustainable deployment, with a view to encouraging commercial-scale sites by the mid-2020s.
The opportunity has also been highlighted in a number of other studies, including by the Energy Technologies Institute, which found that encouraging floating wind is a “key strategic issue for the UK”.
RSPB Senior Policy Officer, Melanie Coath said:
“The RSPB is clear that continued Government support for carefully-planned renewable energy into the 2020s is critical to the UK’s long-term energy strategy. There is also an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of innovative technologies like floating wind turbines, if we seize the opportunity now, and make sure we invest in understanding the impacts of those technologies so they can be rolled out in harmony with nature.”
Click here to download ‘The RSPB’s 2050 Energy Vision’
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