Renewable industry steps up efforts to stop low carbon spending cuts

On Tuesday, a coalition of senior business and union leaders, MPs and environmental campaigners signed an open letter calling on the Government to retain £60 million of funding to upgrade UK ports for manufacturing offshore wind turbines.

At the same time, the renewable heat industry, supported by a cross-party group of MPs and green campaigners, gathered outside Parliament to call on the Government to safeguard the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Campaigners from Friends of the Earth and the Renewable Energy Association, sent their message via a giant 21-foot solar-powered hot air balloon, bearing the words "heating is half of the UK CO2 problem". They were joined by MPs including Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Lucas and Alan Whitehead, as well as the new Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change Meg Hillier.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Both actions were launched ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review on October 20, when cuts are expected to be announced to low carbon projects. Concerns are growing that these and other green investments, such as clean coal technology, the Feed-in Tariffs and the Green Investment Bank, will be all be hit by big public spending cutbacks.

Conservative Commons Energy Select Committee Chairman Tim Yeo MP, who is a signatory of the open letter to safeguard funding of ports, has likened public spending cuts to low carbon projects to "cutting the budget for Spitfires in 1939".

Mark Elborne, ceo and President of GE UK, part of one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, said Government funding and the development of a suitable port infrastructure was "critical" to the company locating its offshore wind manufacturing operations to the UK.

"We believe that offshore wind offers the UK market a significant opportunity to create jobs for UK employees and to contribute to future economic growth in what will be a highly competitive global marketplace," he said.

Industry trade body RenewableUK, which is behind the open letter calling on the Treasury to retain funding for UK ports, estimates that offshore wind energy manufacturing has the potential "to create up to 50,000 UK based green collar jobs".

The £60 million Ports Fund was earmarked by Alistair Darling in his March 2010 Budget as part of the Offshore Wind Site Development Competition.

The RHI will offer a subsidy to a range of renewable heat technologies, such as solar panels, air and ground source heat pumps and renewable combined heat and power (CHP). Some estimates have put the costs of implementing the scheme at more than £25 billion.