POWER

Politics and the political landscape:

 

August 3rd 2015: The leaders of 10 major UK environment and conservation groups have written to David Cameron to "raise a major concern" over the Conservative party's cancellation or weakening of 10 green polices in the first period of government. The heads of groups including Greenpeace, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts accused the Conservatives of acting in a way that contradicts pledges made: "We have concluded that early policy choices being made are running counter to the strong intentions you outlined in your pre-election climate pledges and in your manifesto."

 

The letter cites Cameron's climate pledge, signed in February, where the government agreed to 'accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy', as well as pledging to back action to be 'the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than that in which we found it'. The letter also accused Cameron of reneging on his party's promises: "Unfortunately, ten green policies which could have helped you to achieve these goals have been cancelled or weakened over the past three months. Only one of these decisions, to end subsidies for onshore wind, was a commitment from your manifesto."

 

The signatories criticised the Conservative party's failure to back delivery of the low carbon transition by cutting support for renewable energies. "This will be harder to achieve following the decision to withdraw support for two of the most cost effective means of generating clean electricity: wind and solar PV, which with appropriate planning and environmental controls, can help meet the nation’s energy needs," the letter went on.

 

The Department for Energy and Climate Change released figures yesterday (31/7/15) which showed that electricity generated from renewable sources in the UK in 2014 increased by 21% on a year earlier. The DECC's Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2015 report showed that renewables accounted for 19.1% of total UK electricity generation.

 

Previous: With the unexpected election of a majority Conservative Government, a number of statements made by both the Secretaries of State for the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) and for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) made it clear the goverment was determined to firm up its election promises to change the conditions for subsidies and planning with regard all future onshore wind farm developments - something that is already causing much debate in the energy supply community.

 

In a statement to the House of Commons, it was confirmed the Conservatives will end subsidies to onshore windfarms from 1st April 2016, a year earlier than set out in the previous Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition agreement. There will be a grace period for projects that already have planning permission. The Rt. Hon Amber Rudd (DECC) and the communities secretary, the Rt. Hon Greg Clark (DCLG), are also to press ahead with plans to give local communities, rather than national government the right to veto windfarms. In his written statement (Right) the Secretary of State says there will also be two new “planning tests” so that councils can only approve windfarms on sites that have been clearly designated as part of a local or neighbourhood plan, and where the proposed project has the backing of the local community.

 

The Energy Bill was subsequently published on Friday 10th July 2015 and included detailed information on the government reforms for onshore wind. DECC confirmed the Bill was making its way through ‘official procedure’ in the House of Lords and would be made public that morning. Secretary of State Amber Rudd said: ‘In the Energy Bill introduced this week, as well as keeping bills down, reforms to onshore wind subsidies will put more power in the hands of local people to decide on this now mature technology.’ She then added the role businesses based in the UK can play in meeting climate change target ambitions is ‘undoubted’.

 

‘By incentivising reductions in energy consumption and emissions,’ she said, ‘the government is giving business the tools to achieve that goal. We want to collaborate with industry and the wider green economy sector in the coming months to ensure we develop a framework for simplicity and stability.Going for clean energy makes economic sense and it makes business sense: clean energy is a boom market – bringing jobs and investment and growth. But it only makes sense if we keep costs pinned down.’

 

DECC said later, that more precise departmental spending information would be set out in a Spending Review in autumn and confirmed it is developing a ‘new operating model’ that will allow it to work in a ‘smarter, more focused and efficient manner.’