Renewables in the UK 21 st March 2016 Nikki Brain and Ben Pearce, Power Up North London

Why Community Energy? Community ownership Grassroots decision making Income for community Climate Change Culture change Education Repowering London

Challenges and opportunities… Feed- in- Tariff introduced by the Labour government in Before FiTs were introduced only 26 MW of solar existed in the UK DECC Community Energy Strategy Rural/ Urban Community Energy Fund Estimated 5,000 community energy projects across UK

2015/16 Discontinuing support for the Green Deal Finance Company Abolishing feed-in tariff pre-accreditation/ pre- registration Scrapping the Code for Sustainable Homes Removing tax relief on community energy schemes Abolishing the zero-carbon standard for new homes and scrapping the zero- carbon non-domestic buildings standard Cancelling the competition for Carbon Capture and Storage technology Closing the climate change levy exemption for zero-carbon energy Cutting £700 million from the Renewable Heat Incentive budget Increasing VAT on energy-saving measures Reduction of the feed-in tariff by up to 65% (back from a proposed 87%) Ending new public subsidies for onshore wind Announcement Green Investment Bank to be sold to private sector Source: New Economics Foundation (2016) the-energy-efficiency-year-that-was...-and-then-wasnt Challenges and opportunities….

Cumulative difference between the 2015 forecast for new-build power capacity in gigawatts (GW), and the 2014 figures. Negative numbers (red) show that this year’s forecast is lower than last year. Positive numbers (green) show the forecast is now higher. Source: Carbon Brief analysis of DECC energy and emissions projections. Source: Carbon Brief (2015), renewable-energy-forecast

UK climate change targets UK Climate Change Act % cut in carbon emissions by 2050 Paris agreement- 40% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 EU target of 15% energy from renewable sources by 2020 (UK Govt. has broken down into targets of 30% of electricity, 12% of heat and 10% of transport energy) According to Committee on Climate Change “UK emissions were 35% below 1990 levels in 2014 and the first carbon budget has been met. The UK is currently on track to outperform the second and third carbon budgets, but not on track to meet the fourth, which covers the period ” 5 th Carbon Budget will be set in June 2016

Power Up North London - the story so far Public meeting April 2014 Core Group (10-15 people) meets once a month Incorporated as Community Benefit Society August 2015 Awarded UCEF grant for feasibility work November 2015 Hope to raise a share offer for c. 80kW of renewable energy in 2016

Urban Community Energy Fund Feasibility grant can cover: Pre-planning application Structural surveys Legal advice inc. drawing up template lease Community engagement Company insurance Cannot cover: Panel costs Share offer costs

Looking forward… Government needs to fill gap in energy supply created by decommissioning of coal and nuclear power stations in 2020s (and 2010s) To meet carbon reduction targets, a large percentage of this will need to be low carbon technology Renewable energy still enjoys very high public support and is jumping up the political agenda quickly Developments in storage technology make renewables more reliable and efficient - government policy needs to allow for more decentralised control over energy supply and demand Cuts to FiT mean new models for community energy must be created. Good Energy have announced plans to build a subsidy free onshore wind farm part owned by the community in North Devon. Potential for other sources of funding - Community Infrastructure Levy

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