Onshore Wind brings substantial economic benefits

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin

A new report, produced jointly, by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the industry trade body RenewableUK has studied in-depth the impact of onshore wind upon both local economies and the national economy.

The report examined 18 wind farm sites of different sizes from across the UK. The contribution made by wind farm development, construction, operation and maintenance to the British economy was observed at local, regional and national level.

It was found that the total onshore wind market was worth £548 million to the UK economy in the year 2011 alone. Additionally, over 9,000 jobs were supported by the industry. Perhaps even more interestingly, it was found that for every megawatt of onshore wind capacity installed in the UK £700,000 was added to GDP. Over £100,000 of which remains within the Local Authority area that the development is located.

If the UK was to achieve the target of 13GW of installed onshore wind capacity by 2020, set out in the Renewable Energy Roadmap, then the contribution to annual GDP would rise to £780 million and approximately 11,600 jobs would be supported. A figure which rises to 15,500 if ancillary jobs are included. These figures would then suggest that onshore wind is already making a major contribution to the British economy, particularly at a local level.

UK Energy Minister Ed Davey described onshore wind as “a cost effective and valuable part of the UK’s diverse energy mix”, at the publication of this report, going on to say further:

“Not only does wind power provide secure, low carbon power to homes and businesses, it supports jobs and brings significant investment up and down the country too.

“Our policies of increasing community involvement will also help to ensure the right balance between developers and community interests.

“With the cost of the technology coming down, there is a real opportunity to reap the economic benefits onshore wind can bring.”

Perhaps most interestingly, it was found that one of every three local jobs created by onshore wind developments is in the operation or maintenance sector.

Which is to say that these are long term jobs in the local area. This sort of job creation is of particular importance to Local Authorities and is very much a consideration in planning decisions.

The question of the supply chain is also raised in the report; specifically how much of the work required for onshore wind developments is carried out within the UK. It is found that many of the 8,000 components required to manufacture a turbine are, or could be, produced within this country, reaching the conclusion that; “many activities relating to the development of wind farms are already carried out by UK based businesses. As the sector develops, there are likely to be opportunities to increase this activity.”

The reports findings were greeted by RenewableUK’s chief executive Maria McCaffrey:

“This study explains why in rural areas 68% of people support wind, and 57% of those living in rural areas recognise that wind brings benefits in terms of jobs, 12% more than those in urban areas.

“Rather than feeling that wind has been imposed on them, real people across the UK are recognising the benefits of having wind in their backyard, and with Government’s help we’ll continue to build on the 8600 people employed across the country because of onshore wind, as promised by our members in the “Wind Energy Charter“.

…

“Whilst we can see that with increased deployment comes both increased value and jobs added, plus an increase in market share for the UK, if we were to only see 10GW come forward jobs will actually be lost in the development and construction phases, and there will be no increase in our market share. So it’s therefore essential for UK growth and employment to keep onshore wind progressing and revitalising communities.”

It could be argued that as the economic benefits of onshore wind become more apparent they become more difficult to refute.

Government Launches Green Deal

Posted on November 25, 2011 by admin

The Government’s new Green Deal has been launched this week.

The scheme aims to reduce fuel poverty by making energy efficiency measures such as insulation more affordable to householders. This will be achieved by allowing people to take out loans of up to £10,000 to make their homes more energy efficient. The loans will be paid back over a 25 year period through ‘small additions’ to household energy bills. These loan repayments are intended to be lower than the amount of money that has been saved on energy; this has been referred to as the Green Deal‘s ‘golden rule’. The Green Deal is intended to be taken up by up to 14 million homes. The government estimates that the Green Deal could lead to the creation of 65,000 jobs.The Green Deal may also offer households that take up the scheme £150 cash-back. Estimates place savings on energy bills at around £94 annually by 2020. It was also announced that Energy companies must contribute £1.4 billion to the scheme annually until 2020.

At the launch of the Green Deal Chris Huhne stated:

“The Green Deal is about putting energy consumers back in control of their bills and banishing Britain’s draughty homes to the history books. By stimulating billions of pounds of private sector investment, the Green Deal will revolutionise the way that we keep our homes warm, making them cosier, more efficient – and all at no upfront cost.

“The Green Deal is also a massive business opportunity for firms up and down Britain, helping to power the economy and creating jobs. From one-man bands and local authorities, to the big supermarket and DIY stores, we want as many providers getting involved as possible because that’s what will give consumers the best deal.

“I want to insulate Britain’s homes not just from the cold weather, but also from the chill winds of global fossil fuel prices. It’s these that are pushing up consumer energy prices, and it’s why our balanced package of policies aimed at achieving energy savings and shifting to more home grown alternatives is the right one for the economy and all of us who pay energy bills.

“There are certainly costs to replacing our ageing energy infrastructure with modern clean power stations, and we take very seriously any impact of our policies on what consumers and businesses pay. we’ve repeatedly taken steps to reduce this – by removing some planned levies on bills and making others more cost effective and within budget.

“But a crucial – and too often ignored -priority of our whole strategy is to reduce the amount of energy we use in our homes.”

Initial reactions to the launch of the Green Deal have been somewhat mixed.

Brian Berry, director of external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders released the following statement:

“With rising energy prices the market for retrofit work is certainly there and is worth at least £3.5 billion every year, but consumers will need to be convinced that the Green Deal makes financial sense to them. It’s pleasing therefore to see the proposed cash back incentive in the consultation, but a reduced rate of VAT for Green Deal approved measures is needed in addition to boost demand and create much needed jobs in the building industry.”

Richard Lloyd, executive director at the consumer group Which?:

“It’s difficult to see how hard-pressed homeowners will have confidence in how the ‘green deal’ might work for them if the suggested savings are initially based on averages rather than on their personal energy use.

“The ‘golden rule’ was supposed to reassure people that green deal repayments would not exceed the savings made on energy bills. But if this is based on average figures then it could be meaningless for many.

“The government estimates that average household energy bills will be 7% lower than they would have been by 2020 because of new energy and climate policies. But this is based on the big assumption that schemes like the Green Deal will appeal to consumers. If take-up is lower than expected, energy bills will be pushed up even further.

Steps have already been taken to reassure those that have raised concerns about the Green Deal.

The treasury announced shortly after the scheme was launched that £200 million had been set aside to fund incentives to those who take up the scheme in it’s early stage. Although it has yet to be determined quite what form these incentives will take, further cash-back offers, discounts on council tax and cuts to stamp duty have all been suggested.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said:

“I can announce today that as part of the Autumn Statement we will provide £200m of funding for new and additional support to enable a special time-limited ‘introductory offer’ for the Green Deal.

“An offer that could save early adopters hundreds of pounds.

“A fund to get the Green Deal off to a flying start.

“One that will work with the Green Deal mechanism and the ECO to motivate thousands of more consumers to take up energy efficiency measures, over the next two years.”

The almost immediate announcement of this incentive fund indicates the strength of will within the government to make the Green Deal a success.

Scottish Businesses missing out on Feed-in-Tariff

Posted on October 14, 2011 by admin

A survey recently carried out by Scottish Renewables has revealed that the nation’s businesses are missing out on much needed revenue and profits because of a lack of investment in renewable energy technologies and a lack of understanding of the Feed-in-Tariff.

Scottish Renewables compiled a record of all the registrations made for Feed-in-Tariffs over the last year. They found that 95% of all registrations were made by homeowners. In comparison just 3.6% of registrations were made by businesses.

A further breakdown of the figures revealed that on average there were 326 domestic Feed-in-Tariff registrations per month as opposed to just 3 registrations a month for commercial and industrial installations. The specific breakdown for wind turbines were slightly more evenly balanced; 27 domestic turbine registrations a month and 8 a month for industrial and commercial purposes. This would suggest that the benefits of a wind turbine is more apparent to those businesses that have the opportunity (in terms of available land etc) than other forms of renewable generation.

Feed-in-tariffs work as follows.

The owner of a renewable energy generator is paid for every unit of electricity that they are producing. There are two seperate tariffs; the Generation Tariff is a set rate which is paid for every unit of electricity generated, even if the owner uses it to power their own home or business, the Export tariff is a set rate which is paid for every unit that is exported into the National Grid. Feed-in-tariffs are set at a fixed rate from the time at which a generator is operational and connected to the National Grid for a period of twenty years.

Daniel Borieswitz, Policy Manager at Scottish Renewables released the following statement:

“Scottish businesses are missing out on a huge opportunity to not only to produce their own electricity but also receive up to 8% return on their investment by installing renewable technologies.

“It is clear that the public are already very much on board with the Feed-in-Tariff with domestic installations accounting for 17MW of installed capacity in the last year, but we need to encourage companies to take full advantage of these payments offered by the government especially if they are to meet their own carbon and environmental targets.

“With the Renewable Heat Incentive expected soon this is an ideal time for businesses to think seriously about how they can harness the natural resources on their doorsteps to power their companies.”

It is very much true that the Feed-in-Tariff offers a unique opportunity in these economically uncertain times for businesses to access a steady revenue stream and a substantial return on their investments. Businesses such as golf clubs, supermarkets, industrial estates and all manner of rural companies are being presented with a huge opportunity. A company such as ours with experience of both the planning process and working with such businesses can help to capitalize on this situation.