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Renewables debate points to 'political will' as biggest obstacle to UK renewables

12 Mar 2015, 10:33 am

Lack of "political will", rather than money or technology, is the biggest obstacle to the development of the UK's energy sector, leading politicians from four of the country's main political parties have told an industry conference.

The Renewable Energy Association (REA), which chaired the recent 'Renewable Energy Question Time' debate, welcomed the "unanimous" support for renewable energy from panellists at the event. Speakers included Greg Barker, Conservative MP and former energy minister; Baroness Jones of the Green Party; Lord Teverson, co-chair of the Liberal Democrats' parliamentary party committee on climate change; and Labour MP Alan Whitehead.

"There is great potential for renewable energy to transform the UK's energy mix, and while we very much welcome today's support from a cross-party panel of parliamentarians, it is clear that a lack of political will has held back the progress of the sector," said REA's chief executive, Dr Nina Skorupska.

"We understand that we need to do more as an industry to improve understanding of renewables amongst the public to increase consumer uptake, and put greater pressure on the future government to raise the green agenda," she said.

Panel members agreed that measures to further encourage renewable energy development should be among the first priorities of the incoming government following May's general election. This work should include raising awareness of the benefits of renewable energy amongst the public, in recognition of the fact that consumer understanding and buy-in would be "fundamental" to the future success of UK renewables, according to REA.

During the debate, Barker said that the Conservative party's approach to renewables and climate change had improved over the five years that they had been in power. Renewable energy had become more accessible and affordable over that period, but more had to be done to make products interesting and affordable enough to encourage consumer interest, he said.

However, Barker was also keen to point out the role played by gas as the "largest single driver of lower emissions" in the energy sector over the previous 20 years. Gas, along with renewables, would remain an important part of UK plans to remove coal from the energy system and meet 2020 climate change targets, he said. Labour's Alan Whitehead pointed out that the UK's future energy mix would require a combination of reliable power sources relying on storage and interconnection.

Lord Teverson said that of the 20 climate change commitments agreed at the start of the coalition government, 18 had been achieved to some degree. Reducing carbon emissions from transport, and integrating biomass generation into the grid and future energy mix, should be adopted as policies by the incoming government, he said.

Teverson also suggested that the debate around renewable energy had to be made more "mainstream". Baroness Jones agreed that the idea that people were unwilling to 'go green' was "a myth", and one that could be addressed through public education about the wider benefits of green technology.