Wednesday 22 April 2009

More on the Budget - renewables

Because I know at least one reader of this blog will be interested in the renewables stuff - actually two, if you count Paul Smith - here's some more detail which has come through in a press release from the Renewable Energy Association, which represents the UK renewables industry.

"Main measures for renewables

The Budget contained the three main measures the REA had highlighted for renewables:

Up to £4bn of finance for new renewable energy projects in the UK will be provided by the European Investment Bank responding to serious difficulties in access to finance.

The number of Renewables Obligation Certificates allocated to new offshore wind projects will be increased to 2 per MWh for 2010/11 and 1.75 in 2011/12 before reverting to the 1.5 ROC/MWh level. The government valued this at £525m. Projects eligibility is subject to specified criteria.

The decentralised renewables sector will receive £70m of new grant support to bridge the period to the introduction of the new renewable energy tariffs; £45m for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme and £25m for community heating.

This matches the key proposals made in the REA's pre-budget submission to the Treasury, but provides less hard cash.

In addition the budget offers

o £10 million in new grants for anaerobic digestion to turn organic waste into green energy

o Authorising £4bn of networks investment by the private sector to improve access for renewable energy (a 50% increase on 5 years ago)

o £ 405m to support the Low Carbon Industrial Vision including £250m for ‘advanced industrial projects of strategic importance’.

o £50m for the Technology Strategy Board for future growth industries including low carbon technology."

4 comments:

Unknown said...

interested to find out more about the AD money - although £10m is not a great deal.

By the way the £8 increase in landfill tax was already in place wonder if he has made any announcements about future increases. Will check on waste website www.letsrecycle.com later

Kerry said...

Was it in place up till 2013? That's what was in the Budget notes today. Year on year, till 2013.

Unknown said...

yes that is an extension of the land fill escalator - good news

Glenn Vowles said...

We already seriously lag behind other countries in the "greenness" of our green stimulus plan (if indeed it merits this description at all). We need a stimulus orders of magnitude higher than we have or we will never meet tough emissions targets or maximise job creation potential. The Government proposes £1bn on climate change including £435m for energy efficiency, £525m on offshore wind - far too little and needs to build up to be 10 to 15 times as much. The budget lacked a truly green vision, in fact it lacked vision generally!