Act to aid home-grown green power

The Climate Change Bill, approved by Parliament on Wednesday, will make it easier for small-scale producers of renewable electricity to sell their excess energy to their power supplier.


The new Climate Change and Sustainability Act will encourage large producers to set up schemes that favour power produced by micro-wind turbines, solar panels and other decentralised renewables.

The Act will also make it easier for those selling micro-renewable power to reap the financial benefits of the Renewable Obligation – the Government’s requirement that power companies include a minimum percentage of green electricity in the total they supply – the DTI has said.

The measures are hoped to off-set the installation costs of small-scale renewables for homes and small businesses.

The need to support renewable heat generation as well as electricity is acknowledged in the Act, but there is no attempt to include heat in the renewable obligation.

The Climate Change Act will feed into the Government’s Microgeneration Stratgegy, which aims “to create conditions under which microgeneration becomes a realistic alternative or supplementary energy generation source for the householder, for the community and for small businesses.”

Speaking at the Renewable Energy Association’s annual conference in London on Thursday, minister for energy Malcolm Wicks said: “The ability to produce clean, green energy from homes or businesses can help to lessen our carbon emissions and bring down fuel bills.

“We, as individuals, must make a contribution to the fight against climate change, as we can’t just expect big institutions or governments to solve the problem for us, we all have to make a difference.

“A micro wind turbine will be installed on my own home shortly and I would like to see local level and community energy production like this becoming more commonplace. This will allow us get back in touch with where our power comes from and understand more about how much we are using or abusing. ”

For more information on the Microgeneration Strategy see here.

Goska Romanowicz

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