Today’s much heralded Energy Review in the UK, appears to have been a bit overshadowed by the debate over nuclear.

The important point is that there is a long-term commitment to 2020 to reach 20% renewables in electricity generation. Considering that according to the last official figures for 2004, windpower contributed only 0.54% to UK electricity, expect high compound growth rates for years to come to get anywhere near that figure.

Duriing an interview on BBC News 24 TV in mid-afternoon, I said that we need to talk much more about the economics of energy costs. Most of the news coverage I thought gave far too much prominence to lobbyists and politicians. When it is taxpayers, consumers and investors who will have to foot the bill.

What is welcome will be the easing of planning restrictions. As I have mentioned here before, they are the single greatest obstacle to the takeup of windpower in the UK.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Laws & Regulation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.