Post a comment
Print articleBWEA Attacks Government's "Weak" Wind Energy Plans
February, 2008 -
The government's current plans to increase the UK's wind energy industry are "too late and too weak", the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) has argued.
Under recent proposals put forward by the European Commission, the UK must obtain 40 per cent of all electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, within the next 12 years.
However, the BWEA has stated that the measures current planning approval process, whereby proposals to build large-scale wind farms have to be approved by the newly-established Independent Planning Commission, hampers rather than helps the sector's development.
"The irony is it will not help," Gordon Edge, director of economics and markets at the body, told the Financial Times.
"The measures will not be implemented until 2009, it will take a while to get the Commission up and running, and it only applies to large wind farms over 50 megawatts
As an illustration, the BWEA claims that wind farms capable of producing 9GW of power are currently stuck in the planning process,
At present, just 2.4 GW of wind power is currently being produced across the UK, enough to supply 1.3 million households.
Under recent proposals put forward by the European Commission, the UK must obtain 40 per cent of all electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, within the next 12 years.
However, the BWEA has stated that the measures current planning approval process, whereby proposals to build large-scale wind farms have to be approved by the newly-established Independent Planning Commission, hampers rather than helps the sector's development.
"The irony is it will not help," Gordon Edge, director of economics and markets at the body, told the Financial Times.
"The measures will not be implemented until 2009, it will take a while to get the Commission up and running, and it only applies to large wind farms over 50 megawatts
As an illustration, the BWEA claims that wind farms capable of producing 9GW of power are currently stuck in the planning process,
At present, just 2.4 GW of wind power is currently being produced across the UK, enough to supply 1.3 million households.
