Businesses and communities in the UK will now receive extra help from the Government to take advantage of renewable energy incentives.
The Government launched a new website this week,
Community Energy Online (CEO), which is designed to show organisations how to generate their own energy and take advantage of the Government’s
renewable energy incentives.
CEO will offer businesses, local authorities and community groups detailed advice and case studies showing how to select and implement local low carbon and
renewable energy projects.
Climate Minister Greg Barker announced the launch of the site at the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA) annual conference, where he said the Government’s support for small renewable energy projects such as district heating systems or wind farms, is an essential component of the Government’s 'Big Society agenda.
"With the right combination of incentives and freedoms, community groups, businesses and organisations can get together to build a cleaner, greener future," said Barker. "They can generate their own heat and electricity, and their own profits, and as a by-product, help the UK to save energy and help to cut
carbon emissions."
Purpose of the website
CEO is available through the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and will offer guidance on how organisations can start small-scale energy generation projects. The site provides advice about how to raise the necessary finance, select the right
technology, comply with regulations, and qualify for relevant incentives such as the
Feed-In Tariff (FIT) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The website has been developed with the help of community networks, the Local Government Group and industry bodies like the CHPA. It will give communities and businesses access to information from different independent sources and will link together partner websites to create a one-stop shop for organisations interested in generating energy on a community scale.
"Energy services, combined heat and power and district heating all have a vital role to play in delivering the empowering agenda of community energy," said Graham Meeks, director of CHPA.
"The launch of CEO is a concrete step forward in unlocking this potential. It will help people to take ownership and control of their own energy together, for the benefit of not just of the environment but crucially also their own communities."
Government vision
Barker said the Government is determined to release the potential of local, distributed energy, and create the administration’s vision of a decentralised energy economy.
"This Government wants to see distributed generation become the norm not the exception," said Barker. "That way we can literally bring power to the people, to communities, to local businesses."
"We want market reform to create new opportunities to crowd in billions in new
investment and an army of new players, participating in a dynamic new paradigm for the sector."
Barker said this plan is something the market should have confidence in.
Graham Meeks, director of CHPA, said this is a realistic and essential vision for the sector.
"With electricity market reforms built upon Greg Barker’s vision, we could be sharing an ambition with Government to double the capacity of CHP in the UK by the end of this decade," he said.
"The Minister’s vision places the industry at the heart of the Government’s ambition for a Big Society and this is a very positive starting place. We look forward to working with the Government to turn the vision into reality."
Additional assistance
CEO is the latest in a series of measures from the Government designed to encourage the production of community-scale renewable energy projects, which critics have long claimed has been neglected in favour of onsite and larger-scale projects.
For example, the Coalition Government overturned a ban so that local councils can now sell electricity back to the National Grid, allowing them to help the environment while making a profit. However, DECC said the Government will not be repeating the Low Carbon Communities Challenge, which the Labour Government pioneered last year, offering grants to help fund low carbon community projects.
The current Government’s push to promote community projects has been welcomed by the renewable energy industry, although concerns still remain that while the government has committed to launching the RHI next year, it could still scale back the FIT scheme.
DECC said in the wake of the spending review that it would aim to keep FIT at its current level for the first phase of the scheme, which runs until 2012. The organisation said it will continue providing a commitment to the funding of FITs and £860 million for the RHI.
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Related links:
ceo.decc.gov.uk
