He said today that proposals to merge the renewables and nuclear sectors would be ‘completely the wrong way to go’: 

“The UK Government is currently consulting on major changes to the way that electricity production is supported. They recognise that the current support scheme for renewables -the Renewables Obligation, which compels electricity suppliers to make a proportion of their output renewable – has been highly successful. Yet they are proposing to replace it – with risks of delay, uncertainty and loss of confidence in this important expanding sector.” 

Todd was speaking as Scottish Parliament held a debate today (Thursday, January 13) on the UK Government’s Electricity Market Reform plans. The proposals describe a new support scheme applying to all low-carbon generation – not only renewables, but also nuclear power, and fossil fuel stations fitted with carbon capture storage (CCS) facilities. 

“Creating a new comprehensive scheme would be a major change, with greatly increased complexity,” said Todd. “It is also strange that the Government options only consider schemes where the support for renewables and support for nuclear and carbon capture are merged together. I believe that to merge these three technologies is completely the wrong way to go because, aside from the low carbon label, they are fundamentally different. 

“It would be much more transparent to have separate schemes that were adaptable to the needs of each technology. For example, CCS is a completely new sector and will have different needs from renewables and nuclear. Having three separate schemes would also allow the continuation of a renewables support system that has worked well and would continue to do so into the future.” 

He said there were also concerns that the proposals did not address key questions about the impact of the changes on the growth of the renewables sector, specifically: 

• Will the changes provide the same level of support for renewables as otherwise?
• Will the changes pose a risk to the pace of development of renewables, due to uncertainty and delay?
• Will they divert financial, research and political support from renewables into a broader basket of technologies?  

Todd said: “Since 2002, the UK renewable energy support scheme has put us in a world-leading position in a number of renewable technologies, such as offshore wind, wave power and tidal power. AREG strongly urges the Government to rethink the approach set out in these proposals.”