The Fifth Carbon Budget published today by the UK’s Committee on Climate Change goes against the government’s recent statement to only support the deployment of future offshore wind projects if they further reduce costs by an unspecified amount, Jenny Hogan, Director of Policy at Scottish Renewables, said.
”The Committee clearly argues that it is UK deployment of offshore wind that drives down costs, not the other way around, and that the future energy mix should include the roll-out of offshore wind,” Hogan said.
The Fifth Carbon Budget has reaffirmed the government’s previous agenda to double the amount of renewable electricity in the mix by 2030, but this target will be hard to meet given the uncertainty surrounding the government’s future support of the renewable energy sector, according to Hogan.
Commenting on yesterday’s Comprehensive Spending Review from Chancellor George Osbourne, Niall Stuart, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, said that the review leaves the industry with no real clue on how the growth of renewables will be supported in the UK past 2020.
”The Committee on Climate Change’s latest reports suggest we need to double the output of renewable power between now and 2030 if we are to meet carbon budgets, and we need to start planning how we intend to do that now,” Stuart said.
Image: The Crown Estate (Illustration)