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Research into Microgeneration Targets Launch Event

Malcolm Wicks MP,  Minister of State for Energy
BERR Conference Centre,  02 June 2008

I am pleased to be here at the launch of this research. I know it’s one of the most eagerly anticipated pieces of research on microgeneration and it’s great to see so many people from the industry here.

Grateful to the members of the steering board for contributing to the costs of the report and their input throughout the process, and to Element for their hard work in producing the report.

Background to the research: This research fulfils requirements in the Microgeneration Strategy and the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act. The Act gives government the powers to set a microgeneration target for England, Wales and Scotland. This research was commissioned to both inform that decision, and to help give a better understanding of consumer decision making when it comes to microgeneration and what drives early adopters.

Microgeneration clearly has the potential to make a significant contribution to overall energy use in the UK, and to tackling climate change.

This report provides a robust evidence base to inform the future direction of government policy. We will be consulting in the summer on the Renewable Energy Strategy and later in the year on energy efficiency and all aspects of heat. This research will help inform these consultations and our future policy.

There are some very interesting findings in this research. And we, along with others, need to consider the full analysis and results before jumping on the headline figures. We’re all aware of the need to make sure that cost effectiveness of measures is considered alongside potential uptake of technologies.

That said, I’m pleased to discover there are now almost 100,000 microgeneration installations across the UK, up from 82,000 at end 2004.

I’m sorry I am unable to stay for the presentation but my officials and I look forward to studying the report and the analysis that it presents.