Boris Johnson has announced plans to invest in clean wind energy in the first stage of the Government’s ten–point plan for a green industrial revolution, which will be released in full later this year. 

 

The Government will invest £160 million in increasing our offshore wind capacity, which is already the largest in the world. Offshore wind energy currently provides for around 10% of the UK’s total energy demand, but these new plans include a new target for offshore wind to provide 40GW of energy per year by 2030 (which is more than enough energy to power every home in the country). The Government has also put new targets in place for floating offshore wind, which will provide 1GW by 2030, and to double the capacity of offshore wind in the next Contracts for Difference auction in late 2021. 

To find out more about the Government’s wind energy investment plans, click here. 

The Government has responded to the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC’s) Progress Report – which called on the Government to seize the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity to make a green recovery from Covid-19 – with a commitment to publish a Net Zero strategy report for the UK before COP26. 

 

The report, which will set out the government’s vision for transitioning to a net zero economy by 2050, will therefore be published before November 2021. It will sit alongside the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, Heat and Buildings Strategy, and the Energy White Paper, which is set to be released imminently. As well as announcing the Net Zero strategy report, the Government also reaffirmed its commitment to the next carbon budget and to ensuring that climate change action is at the heart of its Covid-19 recovery strategy.  

 

It’s encouraging to hear that the Government is still focusing on recovering sustainably from Covid-19 – to read the Government’s full response to the CCC report, click here.  

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched a £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), with the aim of supporting green investment initiatives in public sector organisations in England. 

 

The scheme will provide funding for heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency improvements in non-domestic buildings across the public sector, and is expected to make a reduction in emissions equivalent to taking almost 45,000 cars off the road! It forms part of the Government’s ‘Plan for Jobs 2020’ and has been designed to support skilled jobs in the low carbon and energy efficiency sectors. 

 

Eligible bodies are now able to apply for funding – if you think your organisation could be eligible, you can find out more about the scheme here.  

National Grid ESO has launched a new Dynamic Containment service to help balance the grid, as although it’s incredibly positive to see renewables making up a growing proportion of our generation, the intermittency of renewables is making it increasingly challenging for ESO to maintain system frequency at 50Hz.  

 

Dynamic Containment is therefore designed to meet ESO’s need for faster-acting frequency response services, and it represents an additional opportunity for businesses with on-site generation assets to get involved in demand-side response. Auctions are already open to businesses with assets that can respond very quickly – such as batteries. So if your organisation has an on-site generation asset that could quickly respond to alerts from ESO – and you have the ability to turn it up / down without affecting your operations – then you could access a new revenue stream through Dynamic Containment.  

 

If you’re interested in getting involved in the Dynamic Containment scheme or you just want to find out more, click here.  

f you have any questions about the changes discussed above or how they might affect your business, our team of experts is on hand to answer them. Simply call us on 0330 053 8620 or email us at heretohelp@brytenergy.co.uk.