The Renewables Obligation and Climate Change Explained


by Steve Evans - Date: 2008-11-27 - Word Count: 469 Share This!

The Renewables Obligation is an instrument of financial support provided by the United Kingdom Government for generators of renewable electricity. The renewables obligation (RO) is set at a level which rises each year toward a UK and EU target. The RO is what is called a 'statutory instrument' used to incentivise electricity suppliers to produce electricity from renewable sources.

The level of the obligation set each year by the government is not the same as a target. The RO is set at a level of electricity supply from renewable green energy sources which is always just a little higher than that which the expectation lies for the market to deliver.

The RO is at the present time set at 6.7%, this is due to rise to 15.4% for 2015/2016. The present policy intends that the obligation would remain at that level until 2037.

For security of power supply and the avoidance of a UK power supply deficit and an ensuing crisis over rationing of power, a rise in renewables is essential. Also, strategically, all nations need to diversify their power supplies away from fossiliferous sources for reasons of exposure to market price fluctuations and price increases generally.

The Renewables Obligation is the main mechanism for achieving this, and the recent White Paper confirms the intention to strengthen this mechanism, increasing the obligation up to 20%. Fossil fuels will still necessarily remain as a key component of a diverse electricity generation mix, regardless of the contribution made by renewables.

The RO is popular with the public. In fact it is designed so as not to affect consumer bills in any significant way. However, there are costs, although this is largely invisible to the consumer. Electricity suppliers do pass the higher cost of purchasing renewable electricity on to consumers.

Electricity is distributed in Scotland over 11kV and 33kV lines owned by local distribution companies, in this case Scottish Power. Larger wind farms may require to distribute their power to consumers further away and hence use grid lines running at 132kV, 275kV and 400kV, controlled by National Grid that are designed to take power over greater distances.

Climate change is the environmental issue on which governments will be assessed above all others: the harm it will cause if it is not properly addressed will dwarf other problems. And it is fair to say that no world leader has done more to raise the issue up the political agenda than Tony Blair.

Climatologists had already warned that a rise of 2-3 0 C is most likely. Three months ago the Tyndall Centre reported that a 90% cut in emissions was needed by 2050 rather than the 60% advocated by Stern. So, it is of hugely important to the UK and the world that the developed nations lead the way in renewable energy creation.


Related Tags: ro, wind power, wind farms, renewables, renewables obligation, rocs, uk renewables obligation


Steve Evans is an alternative energy expert and consultant, who has advised many clients on the benefits and disbenefits of various courses of action when selecting Waste-from-Energy companies and waste technologies. We recommend that you visit any one of the links we provide in the previous sentence to find out more.

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: