Renewable technologies exempt from green levies review

The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s pledge that support for renewables will not form part of the Prime Minister’s pledged ‘green levies review’ has been confirmed by Energy secretary Ed Davey.

At the launch of Renewable UK, Mr Davey’s reassured the audience that investor schemes were not part of the review, he said: “The current review is not about changing investment incentives for renewables, such as the renewables obligation, contracts for difference or the feed-in tariffs scheme.

“These are essential for investor confidence in the renewables sector and our commitments to a low-carbon economy. But we do need to make sure that support is paid for in a way that is fair to consumers.

“And that is what the current review is about, not the level of support – that has already been agreed – but how it is paid for.”

This is welcome assurance for the renewables industry which has been victim to a great amount of uncertainty and upheaval in recent years.

The Energy Secretary’s speech coincides with Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) update to the Renewable Energy Road map.

DECC Road map claims that £31 billion of private sector investment has been poured into renewable electricity since 2010. The update also shows that electricity from Solar generation jumped up 22% over the last year – helping the UK achieve 15% of its electricity from renewables in the second quarter of 2013.

Also published were the DECC’s the results of its latest public opinions tracker which confirms solar’s on-going position as the most popular form of energy generation among the British Public. It states that 82% of those surveyed expressed support for the technology. More broadly, 76% of those surveyed expressed support for energy generation from renewables.