Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the withdrawal of market support mechanisms for onshore wind on (a) security of supply, (b) the UK's ability to meet its 2020 renewables target, (c) consumer bills and (d) jobs in the onshore wind sector; and if she will make a statement.

We are delivering our election commitment to end subsidies for new onshore wind. We are seeking to legislate through the Energy Bill to close the renewable obligation (RO) to new onshore wind capacity from 1 April 2016, one year earlier than planned. The Department has published an Impact Assessment (IA) that considers the potential effects of the Government’s proposals to close the RO to new onshore wind early. This contains the information requested and can be viewed on Parliament’s website at:

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/energy.html

Small-scale onshore wind projects up to 5 megawatts in scale are eligible for support under the feed-in-tariff (FITs) scheme. DECC has proposed action, through the FITs review consultation, to control spending and put FITs onto an affordable and sustainable footing. This consultation is now closed and we are considering the responses that we have received. Further information can be found online at the following link, including an IA that considers the potential impact of the Government’s proposals:

https://econsultation.decc.gov.uk/office-for-renewable-energy-deployment-ored/fit-review-2015.