UK: 101 Public Figures Urge Prime Minister to Promote Benefits of Renewable Energy

A letter signed by 101 public figures in the UK – including Sir Richard Branson – has been sent to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to promote the benefits of renewable energy in the budget due to be announced this Wednesday, the Guardian reported.

The letter is widely seen as a rebuff to another letter signed by 101 Members of Parliament who called for an end to support to wind energy

The March budget is one of the “biggest opportunities to tackle climate change in the UK…we must ensure it encourages investment rather than create uncertainty and delay further serious investment in the renewable sectors. As a country, we need to be better prepared to deal with rising energy prices,” Branson said, reported in the Guardian.

The letter:

Dear David Cameron,

As entrepreneurs, investors, economists, scientists, engineers, energy providers, community builders and Members of Parliament, we are increasingly concerned about the lack of clarity around the future of government support for land based renewables, such as solar, wind and biogas.

In wind alone, the UK has more than 40% of Europe’s renewable energy resources – enough to power up our economy 3 to 4 times over, generate exports, and provide the tools for communities and entrepreneurs to do their job.

Bringing energy supply and demand together, a decentralised energy market can make real efficiencies in costs associated with our antiquated infrastructure and transmission loss, deliver savings for tax payers and provide frustrated investors with new opportunities.

In the on-going review of renewable energy support, we ask that the Government recognises the importance of simple and accessible Feed-in Tariff policies, to guarantee the broadest possible ownership of the UK’s next generation of energy infrastructure.

The new National Planning Policy Framework, in its current form, does not recognise the huge value of this approach that has been proven successful year-on-year by Germany, where community and large scale energy farms have delivered a 25% cost reduction, taking electricity bills down to 2008 levels.

A planning system that does recognise the value of a move to local energy is badly overdue and must be preferred to ripping up a system and leaving all sides uncertain.

We urge you to ensure that planning inspectors know that the future of the low carbon economy is at stake and our collective needs, both local and national, must be taken into account.”

[mappress]

Offshore WIND  Staff, March 19, 2012