UK will witness rise in subsidy free renewable energy projects, says analysts

There will be opportunities of about £20 bln of investment in the UK due to reducing wind and solar project costs and technologies advancement with respect to battery storage technology.

A new era of renewable energy projects with no subsidy in the UK will be on the way to reduce new gas power station prospects according to industry analysts.  

Aurora Energy Research has said that until 2030, there will be opportunities of about £20 billion of investment in the UK due to reducing wind and solar project costs and technologies advancement with respect to battery storage technology.

The Swedish energy firm Vattenfall announced about their tender win, to develop a wind farm. The project resulted due to winning a Dutch government tender. This project, when completed in 2022, would be the first project without subsidies.  

“The [subsidy-free] future is within reach,” Magnus Hall, Vattenfall’s chief executive, told an industry audience in Oxford.

Magnus Hall also shows concerns regarding the sustainability of post-subsidy era. He is of the opinion that it is helpful is required to ensure that energy forms and governments share equal risk.

He also pointed out that in the auctions, developers of wind projects should be allowed to compete and he also urges to revise the UK’s ban on subsidies for onshore wind farms.

SSE and ScottishPower, two of UK’s big six energy firms, also agree with Hall.

The chief executive of SSE, Alistair Phillips-Davies supported onshore wind farm by reflecting upon the support required by them. He expressed his positivity towards onshore wind in the UK.     

 “Let’s use it, let’s deploy it. There are still areas absolutely where we could build onshore wind farms, areas where the local community are accepted of wind farms.” The chief corporate office at Scottish Power told to a newspaper.

According to Aurora Energy Research report, the wind power would be half of the renewable energy projects to be built in UK from present time to 2030. These subsidy-free projects would be of 9 GW ( of 18 GW). The rest subsidy free projects would be from solar power.

In 2015 the solar project saw a decline due to subsidy cut, but first subsidy-free solar farm in the UK last year boosted the solar power projects.

The capacity addition of gas-based plants by 2030 has been downgraded by the government from 22 GW to 7 GW.

As announced on Tuesday by the energy minister, Claire Perry, the formal review would be launched by the government to review the capacity market later this year.