London Array — Friends of the Earth decries Shell's decision to withdraw.
Filed under: Networks News Energy
· Friends of the Earth is extremely disappointed that Shell has pulled out of The London Array wind farm in the Thames estuary
· Shell is making huge profits from its climate-changing activities; it should be investing far more of its money in clean, green renewable energy
· Renewable energy can play a significant role in tackling Climate Change — The UK has one of the biggest wind energy potentials in the world. But the UK has one of the worst records in Europe on renewable energy.
· The Government must completely overhaul its approach electricity production and renewable energy [see below]. And introduce a wind-fall tax on oil company profits with the money re-invested in measures to tackle Climate Change, including a comprehensive energy efficiency programme to end fuel poverty and cut emissions from peoples’ homes.
What the Government must do:
Review the Renewables Obligation (RO) to ensure that 45 per cent of electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. The RO, which requires power suppliers to derive from renewables a specified proportion of the electricity they supply to their customers – has an important role to play in helping the UK to meet its share of the EU renewable energy target [1].
Encourage householders to install small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar panels by ensuring that they receive a guaranteed premium payment (Feed In Tariff) for the renewable energy they sell to the National Grid.
Give renewable generators priority over conventional generation when connecting and delivering power to the grid.
Reform energy industry regulator OFGEM, to make tackling Climate Change a clear and central priority for all its work.
And here’s our comment:
Commenting on Shell’s decision to pull out of the London Array wind farm project, Friends of the Earth Energy Campaigner Nick Rau said:
“We’re very disappointed that Shell — which touts itself as a progressive green company — is pulling out of the London Array project, and leaving a key clean energy project high and dry.
“Shell announced a 12 per cent profit rise to £3.92bn. It should be investing those profits in renewable energy projects not focusing its efforts on making money from sucking fossil fuels out of the ground and contributing to Climate Change.
“If the Government is serious about meeting renewables targets, it is going to have to back up its aspiration of 33GW announced before Christmas, with more real support. One measure might be to address the problem of turbine shortages by encouraging manufacturing capacity in the UK.”
| Contact Person | Nick Rau |
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| Contact email | nick.rau@foe.co.uk |
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