DON’T RAISE GOALS, LOWER BARRIERS – UK LEADER

U.K. Shouldn't Raise Its Renewable Energy Target, Government Adviser Says
Alex Morales, September 9, 2010 (Bloomberg News)

"The U.K. shouldn’t raise its target for generating 15 percent of its energy for heating, power and transportation from renewable sources by 2020 because it would be too costly, the government’s climate change adviser said.

"Instead, Britain should focus on achieving the goal by reducing obstacles to wind farms and solar parks, upgrading the electricity grid, and ensuring that subsidies provide enough support for clean energy companies, Adair Turner, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said…"

A recent study of UK offshore wind suggested the industry could grow faster than is healthy for it. (click to enlarge)

[Adair Turner, Chair, UK Committee on Climate Change:] “Meeting the 2020 renewable energy target requires a step- change in the rate of progress…[Government policy] should clearly highlight the need for early sector decarbonisation and the implications for investment. Investment in unabated gas should be very limited beyond 2020, with almost all investment flowing to renewable and other low-carbon forms of generation.”

"The plan for 30 percent of electricity to come from renewable generation in 2020 is ‘appropriate,’ and a target of getting 8 percent of transportation fuels from biofuels is ‘desirable,’ Turner said."

Healthy New Energy industries require supportive infrastructure (like ports for offshore wind) to thrive and it takes time to put that in place. (click to enlarge)

"A proposal to increase the amount of heat derived from renewable sources to 12 percent in 2020 from 1.6 percent last year may be…[too expensive] and a less- ambitious target may be appropriate…

"The Renewable Energy Association, an industry group, said that while it agreed with the committee’s recommendation of sticking to the 15 percent overall target, the 8 percent goal for biofuels undershoots a mandatory European Union target of getting 10 percent of energy for transport from renewable [and therefore illegal unless the UK uses more transport biofuel]…"