The measures and policies outlined in the Government’s Pre-Budget Report set the scene for a renewable energy push but concern remains about creating the right environment for investment, according to experts at Carter Jonas who work in the sector.

 

The comments on the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s statement, made on Monday (24 November), come from Andrew Watkin who heads Carter Jonas’s Energy and Marine Team from the firm’s eastern region.

The specialist   team welcomes the Government’s specific commitment to extend the country’s renewables obligation, whereby financial support is provided for large-scale renewable energy for a further 10 years to 2037, and its recognition of the sector’s role in providing employment – with the low carbon industry potentially generating an extra 1 million ‘green collar’ jobs over the next twenty years.

But while in the Pre-Budget Report the need for further investment in electricity grid networks and capacity in order to connect to renewable generation is acknowledged, Carter Jonas is concerned about the ability of the network to cope with current plans for just wind energy developments which are to be achieved within the next decade, without looking to other renewable sources and years beyond 2020.

Andrew Watkin concludes: " The Pre-Budget Report did reinforce central government’s commitment to renewable energy but developers, landowners and their advisers who are active in the in the sector already, are concerned about obstacles to investment and development now which include inflexible local planning systems and capacity issues.

"While welcoming the Government’s principles of support and identification of the sector as important to the country’s future economy - and it has certainly set the scene - the devil will be not only in the detail but in the reality of delivery."