John Hutton calls on local authorities to pass backlog of wind farm applications

3 October 2007

UK Business and Enterprise Secretary, John Hutton, is calling on local councils to pass the backlog of planning applications for new wind farms. Currently, the equivalent of 6 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply is stuck in the planning system awaiting decision. There are enough proposals already in the planning system to enable the UK government to meet its 10 per cent target of generating electricity from indigenous renewable energy sources by 2010 if only the system was unblocked.

The British Wind Energy Association has launched a report entitled ‘Progress to 2010’ which demonstrates the blockages in the planning system that are in serious danger of making the UK miss the target of generating 10 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2010. There are currently over 200 onshore wind projects totalling nearly 8,000 MW of capacity in the planning system awaiting determination. Just one sixth of this capacity would achieve the UK's inaugural renewable energy target. Consent of 1333MW of wind power capacity must be given by the end of December 2007 in order for wind farms to be contributing to our renewable energy mix by December 2010 as it takes up to three years for a wind farm to be built and operational from the time of planning consent. BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery states "The 2010 renewables target can still be met but the time to act on our renewables targets is now".

The Scottish Government is starting to unblock the backlog of wind farm applications and have made three decisions in the past fortnight. However, over half of the UK’s blockage (4,000MW worth of electricity) is sitting with the Scottish Executive. Almost half the Section 36 projects have been with the Scottish Government for over three years, with an average decision time of 51 months for the four decisions taken this year.

Currently five projects, constituting 321 MW of capacity, are awaiting determination from the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, under section 36 of the Electricity Act. These projects have been with the Secretary of State for an average of more than two years, with one project still awaiting a decision after three years.

English & Welsh local authorities are sitting on a further 2,000MW and there are 260 MW from nine awaiting determination from the Planning Inspectorate in England. The time taken for appeal decisions is also a matter of concern with the average time taken for appeal decisions being over a year for the 10 decisions made in the last 18 months.

According to the BWEA only 5 per cent of wind farm applications determined within the statutory 16 week period, compared to an average of 70% for all other major developments. The UK’s planning decision making powers have not sufficiently responded to the growth in political, industry or public interest in renewable energy which has led to the perceived under-delivery of renewables and an erroneous belief that the sector is unable to deliver the 2010 target.

Currently 4.5 per cent of the UK’s electricity is supplied by renewable energy (1.5 per cent by wind power). A further 3.3 per cent of wind energy, both onshore and offshore, is consented and expected to be operational by 2010, while other renewable sources are likely to be generating an additional 1 per cent by that date. This leaves a gap of 1.2 per cent, or 1,300 megawatts (MW) that still needs to be approved in order to reach the target on time

BWEA believes that within the timescale available, onshore wind is the only technology with an industry ready and able to deliver the large scale increase in generation required to meet the 10% target in time. BWEA argues that onshore wind energy must contribute 4.55 per cent (existing and target contribution) of our electricity supply by 2010. BWEA argues that offshore wind is unlikely to be able to deploy more than 1.5 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply in the same time window. Timely decision making for onshore wind projects is imperative if the UK is to meet its target of generating 10 per cent of its electricity from renewables.