Wind sceptic says UK missed 2010 renewables target

The Renewable Energy Foundation has published its findings of its recent investigation into the 2010 renewable energy target.

The Foundation looked at data provided from both the Department of Energy and Climate Change and also Ofgem.

It was found that the UK missed its target for renewable electricity by a large margin and has raised thoughts within the industry as to its viability, particularly with the ever growing ambitious target for 2020. The target set was 10% of all electricity to be from renewable sources whereas in reality the UK only reached 6.5%. Over the past ten years over £6 billion has been spent on generators which have created the above percentage. The EU Renewable Energy Directive has set the 2020 target at 15% of energy consumption from renewable sources meaning at least 30% of all electricity.

The 2010 target for wind was missed, also by a large margin. Whilst this was partly due to the low wind in the UK over the last year, even if winds had exceeded the usual yearly average it is anticipated that this target would still have been missed.

A further finding was that current planning delays show little fault for the missed targets. There are a large number of windfarms both onshore and offshore that have gained consent but are yet to be built.

The Director of Policy and Research for the Foundation (Dr John Constable) has commented on the findings: “The EU’s renewable targets have long been known to lack credibility and clarity of purpose. The UK results we are publishing today show that in spite of very high costs to consumers, the 2010 target has been missed by a large margin, and that consequently the EU 2020 target is plainly beyond reach. The counterproductive target-led renewable policy agenda to 2020 has now reached the end of the road, and should be replaced with a more feasible and reasoned strategy.”