Renewables delivery under attack

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The UK government's record on delivering renewable energy is under attack.

Energy regulator, Ofgem, says the main mechanism for delivering green energy to the national grid is not working.

It also told BBC Radio 4's Costing The Earth programme that it believes the government is not listening to its calls for change.

One leading industry figure says he regrets getting involved in the UK industry because of red tape.

Only Luxembourg and Malta have a worse record compared with Britain, which since 1990 has only increased its renewable energy by about 1%. In contrast, Germany has been able to add this amount in one year.

Professor Catherine Mitchell, an energy professor at Exeter University, says: "The problem is that the government doesn't follow through with its rhetoric."

Government red tape

City banker, Mike Davies, moved across to developing wind farms at the end of 2002, on the belief that the government was committed to increasing the percentage of renewable energy in Britain.

It is a decision he says he now regrets. At the moment, only one of the eight wind farms he his trying to get off the ground in Scotland looks likely to clear planning.

"The way the regulations stand, we could be looking at 10 years into the future," he told Costing The Earth.

"I can do the same thing in the US in less then two years. Seriously, if I'd known it was this bad when I started in the UK, I wouldn't have bothered."

Mr Davis firmly blames the government.

"The longer I spend dealing with politicians, the less I think they understand about what the problems are. It's almost all down to incompetence and a lack of understanding between the politicians and the people on the ground," he says.

The main mechanism for delivering renewable energy in Britain is the government's Renewable Obligation Certificate Scheme, or Rocs.

Usual suspects

Energy regulator, Ofgem, administers this scheme for the government, but it told Costing The Earth that Rocs is no longer fit for purpose.

Currently, the scheme is costing energy customers between £280 and £500 per tonne of carbon offset, at least five times the price of carbon on the European market.

Ofgem believes that the costs could be reduced significantly, but that the government is not prepared to change the scheme.

"We made these points in the government's most recent consultation and unfortunately they fell on deaf ears," says the regulator's director of networks, Steve Smith.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks disagrees. He believes that Rocs is working and said: "The last gigawatt of wind took 14 months to produce compared to 10 years for the first gigawatt, so we're moving very strongly ahead."

He also claims that in many areas of renewable energy, Britain is a world leader. He dismisses criticism as coming from the "usual bunch of pessimists and cynics".

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