Renewable Energy

(asked on 10th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the UK’s energy mix by 2030 will be delivered by (1) marine renewable energy, and (2) solar energy; and what steps they (a) have taken, and (b) intend to take, to achieve the delivery of that percentage.


Answered by
Lord Henley Portrait
Lord Henley
This question was answered on 16th April 2019

On an annual basis BEIS publishes updated energy and emissions projections, which are located on the BEIS website. In the latest report published 11 April 2019, renewables are projected to form 59% of the UK's electricity generation by 2030 (under the reference scenario). Up to the early 2020s, the reference scenario reflects current power sector policies. Beyond the early 2020s, the reference scenario includes assumptions that go beyond current Government policy. The results do not indicate a preferred outcome and should be treated as illustrative.

Since 2003 the Government has made £174m innovation and grant funding available to wave and tidal stream technologies with £80m of that since 2010. Wave and tidal stream projects benefitted from the highest level of support under the Renewables Obligation (5 RO Certificates/MWh) and are eligible to enter the forthcoming Contract for Difference allocation round. As set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, wave and tidal stream technologies could have a role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK, but they will need to demonstrate how they can compete with other forms of generation.

Solar PV is a UK success story: under the RO and Feed in Tariff schemes, both of which have now closed, a total of 12.3GW of solar PV capacity was delivered. We are now exceeding our historic projections on solar PV deployment. In 2013 we estimated that solar capacity would reach 10-12GW by 2020, but latest figures indicate that we already have over 13GW of solar capacity installed in the UK; enough to power over 3 million homes. Subsidy-free deployment of solar PV may be a viable option for developers in future, with two such sites having already deployed in the UK, and the planned construction of two more large-scale subsidy-free solar projects was announced in February 2019.

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