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RenewableUK: Policy Exchange 'wrong to be worried about offshore wind'

18 January 2012

  • Policy Exchange paper fails to understand the new electricity market
  • Offshore wind has the potential to deliver over 70,000 jobs to the UK

RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave & tidal industry, has highlighted some misunderstandings and confusions in a Policy Exchange paper 'The Full Cost to Households of Renewable Energy Policies'.

The paper attempts to estimate the cost to households of current Government energy policies, but fails to account for the reforms to the electricity market being brought in this year, or the 10% cut to support for wind power implemented as part of the Renewables Obligation Banding Review.

Jennifer Webber, RenewableUK's Director of External Affairs, said "Policy Exchange is wrong to be worried about offshore wind. The real danger to household bills over the next ten years comes from the same kind of uncertainty about the cost of imported fossil fuels we've seen over the previous ten – a decade in which gas prices more than doubled. Britain's fantastic wind power resource – the best in Europe – can help reduce that uncertainty."

The paper fails to cover the economic benefits associated with a high level of investment in renewable energy, including a significant expansion in manufacturing jobs in some of the most deprived areas of the UK.

"The expansion of offshore wind could bring over 70,000 jobs – full-time employment which is badly needed by so many families. Energy policy and its impact on household bills is an important subject for discussion – but Policy Exchange needs to go back to the drawing board on this one." Ms Webber concluded.

-ENDS-

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Notes:

  1. RenewableUK is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with more than 700 corporate members, RenewableUK is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.