United Kingdom

With the increasing reliance on imported energy and the heightened awareness of the impact of climate change, the UK Government has made commitments to diversify its energy mix with a clear emphasis on renewable generation.  Current targets are for 33GW of offshore wind by 2020.  The process for awarding new sites to meet this target is already well underway.

To help meet these targets, the UK government decided that offshore transmission should be a licensed activity and should therefore be owned by transmission companies and regulated in a similar manner to onshore transmission. 

In addition, the Energy Bill 2007-2008 facilitates the banding of the Renewable Obligation (RO) for different levels of support for different technologies.  The UK’s primary means of supporting renewable energy,  Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) are certificates issued for each eligible MWh of renewable energy produced.  Under the new proposals, offshore wind is expected to receive 1.5 ROCs per MWh, increasing the level of support by 50%.

The planning system also plays an important role in delivering the infrastructure necessary to meet the UK’s needs, and the Government has initiated a series of measures to improve the planning system in relation to energy infrastructure. The recent Planning Bill in 2007 states that large scale renewables are intended to benefit from a streamlined and reformed planning system.

The political commitment is clear and the Government has also stated that the EU renewable energy commitment, adopted at the Spring Council of 20% by 2020, will be increased to 30% if other states participate.