UK applications for planning permission from renewable energy projects shot up in 2019 to hit a four-year high, with 269 requests made for wind, solar and bioenergy builds, compared with 204 in 2018 and just 154 in 2016.
The rise shows the extent to which energy companies are embracing renewable energy against a background of cheaper technology and growing public awareness of the climate crisis and political will to do something about it. The companies are also more easily able to attract investment as a growing number of financiers realise the lucrative potential of renewable projects.
The outlook for the UK’s green energy sector has been further brightened by the government lifting a ban on state subsidies for onshore wind projects – meaning that they will once again be able to compete for government funding alongside offshore wind and solar projects. The government has made the move in recognition that it risks missing its own climate targets if it does not equally support the renewables sector. Scottish Power is one of the companies already seeking to take advantage of the potential cash available for new onshore wind generation.
Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of new electricity capacity built globally in 2019 was for renewable energy, meaning that green sources now provide more than a third of the world’s power. More fossil fuel plants were decommissioned than were built in Europe and the US in 2019, although there was a rise in coal and gas plants in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In terms of the new renewable builds, 55% were solar, 34% wind, with the remainder being hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal and marine energy.
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UK applications for planning permission from renewable energy projects shot up in 2019 to hit a four-year high, with 269 requests made for wind, solar and bioenergy builds, compared with 204 in 2018 and just 154 in 2016.
The rise shows the extent to which energy companies are embracing renewable energy against a background of cheaper technology and growing public awareness of the climate crisis and political will to do something about it. The companies are also more easily able to attract investment as a growing number of financiers realise the lucrative potential of renewable projects.
The outlook for the UK’s green energy sector has been further brightened by the government lifting a ban on state subsidies for onshore wind projects – meaning that they will once again be able to compete for government funding alongside offshore wind and solar projects. The government has made the move in recognition that it risks missing its own climate targets if it does not equally support the renewables sector. Scottish Power is one of the companies already seeking to take advantage of the potential cash available for new onshore wind generation.
Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of new electricity capacity built globally in 2019 was for renewable energy, meaning that green sources now provide more than a third of the world’s power. More fossil fuel plants were decommissioned than were built in Europe and the US in 2019, although there was a rise in coal and gas plants in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In terms of the new renewable builds, 55% were solar, 34% wind, with the remainder being hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal and marine energy.