The UK government must now focus on the delivery side of its “ambitious” renewable energy targets by addressing key enablers to accelerated rollout, according to the UK Climate Change Committee.
A report published today (29 June) by the advisory group assessing the UK’s progress towards net zero found renewables to be one of the few bright spots in the country’s wider action on climate goals.
Upgraded capacity targets for technologies including offshore wind and solar in the April Energy Security Strategy were welcomed, despite the “lack of focus” on onshore wind.
“The key challenge is now to ensure that these ambitions are delivered on, and that available low-carbon electricity can be fully utilised and is sufficiently reliable and resilient,” the Progress Report states.
Recommendations include ensuring electricity market arrangements are fit for a low-carbon system, that both onshore and offshore network capacity and access is in place to support widespread electrification, and that potential supply-chain bottlenecks are addressed to avoid delaying investment.
An “overarching delivery plan or strategy” is also needed as a priority in order to improve visibility and confidence for private sector investors.
The CCC said the UK has “credible plans” already in place to achieve more than half the emissions reduction needed to deliver its target of a decarbonised electricity grid by 2035.
“There are some deployment risks around renewables and energy storage, particularly over the 2020s,” the report states.
“The government has set very ambitious deployment goals for renewables, and there are potential barriers from planning, network capacity, and supply chains.
“In the longer-term there is scope to catch-up on delays provided these barriers are addressed.”
RenewableUK’s chief executive Dan McGrail said: “The CCC is right to point out that building more onshore wind and solar projects is the fastest way to cut people’s bills by reducing the use of gas.
“The CCC also highlights the fact that bottlenecks need to be tackled. Although offshore wind deployment has been strong, we must ramp up capacity significantly to stay on track to reach the Government’s target of 50GW by 2030.
“So the Committee’s call for Ministers to take action to enable new projects to connect to the grid faster is a timely one.”