Onsite renewables and the UK Renewable Energy Strategy

Since the Planning and Energy Act came into force in 2008, local authorities can require that development proposals include the provision that the energy performance of buildings is greater than that required by the building regulations and that a proportion of the energy that is used by the new development will be produced on the development site and utilising renewable sources. Many local authorities have now adopted policies that require that a certain percentage of the energy use of new development will be generated on the site using low or zero carbon technologies. A description of the selected mix of technologies and the rational behind them is laid down in an Energy Statement.

Some development proposals could use Renewables Obligation Certificates to part fund the additional cost of providing renewable energy. For the majority of development projects, however, the requirement to provide onsite renewable energy only added to the cost. The UK Renewable Energy Strategy and the UK Low Carbon Transition plan introduce a "clean energy cash-back" system for energy generating plant with an installed capacity of up to 5MW. Two schemes that are currently proposed are the "Renewable Heat Incentive" which will be available from April 2011 and the "Feed-in Tariffs" (FITs) for the generation of small scale electiricity, which will be available form April 2010. The FITs will be available for both small-scale community facilities and installations that serve only one unit. Implementation of the scheme will mean a higher return on electiricity that is fed back into the grid than under the current arrangements. The level of the tariffs will vary for different installations, as the tariffs are set to reflect the return on investment for the various technologies. The technologies that are likely to be eligable include: biomass, hydro, photovoltaic cells and wind turbines. The details of the scheme are currently under consultation, but the table below gives the initial level of the feed in tarrifs for each of the technologies.

Table of proposed initial generation tariffs for the first year of FITs (2010-11)
Technology Scale tariff (p/kwh) Technology Scale tariff (p/kwh)
Biomass <50kW 9 PV <10kW (new build) 31
Biomass 50kW-5MW 4.5 PV 10-100kW 28
Biomass CHP 9 PV 100kW-5MW 26
Hydro <10kW 17.5 Wind <1.5kW 30.5
Hydro <10kW-100kW 12 Wind 1.5-15kW 23
Hydro 100kW-1MW 8.5 Wind 15-50kW 20.5
Hydro 100kW-1MW 8.5 Wind 50-250kW 18.0
Hydro 1MW-5MW 4.5 Wind 500kW-5MW 4.5

This is of course good news for a large number of developers. Although the capital cost will not be affected, at least during the operation of the building there will be a higher return on the investments made. For certain development projects the changes can even have a positive financial effect on balance. Planning for Sustainability is in an excellent positition to advise on these matters. So please don't hesitate to contact us should you wish to discuss the preparation of an energy strategy or energy statement for one of our development projects. Send us an email on paul.giesberg@planningforsustainability.co.uk or call on 01235 852778.