Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) analyzed April 2014 figures from Renewable Energy Planning Database created by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, and came to a conclusion that the UK already has enough renewables projects to fulfil the 2020 renewable energy target.
According to DECC’s Database, projects that are operational, under construction and those that got the development consent, amount to 35GW. REF estimates that this is sufficient to meet the 2020 target with a 5% margin. “This capacity would generate about 111 TWh of energy, which is sufficient to meet the required 110 TWh contribution from electricity towards the UK’s 2020 European Union Renewable Energy target ,” REF explained. In the 35 GW of total consented capacity, offshore wind accounts for 9.4 GW.
Furthermore, when taking into account an additional 18 GW of renewable energy projects waiting to get a planning consent, the target would be exceeded by 50 %, REF said. Over a half of these are offshore wind projects.
“The necessity of assessing these planning applications leads to waste of valuable resources and increased costs for local authorities, statutory consultees, and local communities,” REF concluded.