UK: Doubt cast on renewable energy targets

Renewable power is set to grow far more slowly than the government has predicted, according to a new analysis of the UK’s energy mix and greenhouse gas emissions.

It will represent only 5 per cent of the country’s electricity in 2010, up just 1 percentage point from the 4 per cent recorded last year, says a study by consultancy Cambridge Econometrics.
The government’s long-held target envisages 10 per cent of electricity coming from renewables by 2010.

However, the study found that with new policies in place, the UK could produce 12 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2015.

Next month the government is expected to publish the outcome of a consultation on producing more renewable energy by targeting subsidies where they are most needed, rather than focusing on onshore wind farms as at present.

But Paul Ekins, senior consultant to Cambridge Econometrics, said that the proposed changes to the “renewable obligation” subsidy regime could not be introduced until April 2009 at the earliest.

Financial Times