A new Government report has been published, which examines the future of green energy; the findings of which will help the Government decide on levels of renewables subsidy under the Renewables Obligation, as well as funding levels through the feed-in tariff scheme.
Back in December 2010, the Department of Energy and Climate Change appointed Arup to analyse the data available for the UK, and put an estimate on the maximum feasible deployment potential and generation costs of renewable energy technologies up to 2030.
The report – one of the most comprehensive analyses available for making decisions about the future of renewable energy in the UK – shows that renewable sources could provide at least 35% of the UK’s energy capacity by 2020.
It found that wind energy has ‘significant deployment potential’, but onshore wind potential has less than previously thought, while solar photovoltaic technology has ‘very significant deployment potential’.
“It is vital that our support for renewable electricity both encourages investment and represents value for money for consumers,” said energy minister Charles Hendry.
“This study provides a detailed picture of generation costs and deployment potential for a wide range of technologies to inform our work in this area.”
