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Renewables Obligation

The Renewables Obligation (RO) is the Government's main mechanism for supporting generation of renewable electricity. Since its introduction in 2002 the RO has been successful in stimulating growth in renewable electricity generation - it has more than doubled since 2002 - and a project pipeline of more than 11GW is in place across the UK.

However, there are constraints on the availability and deployment of the cheaper forms of renewables. This means that to move beyond 10% of electricity generated from renewable sources and towards the Government's long-term aspirations for renewable energy, other technologies such as offshore wind and biomass need to come forward.

The 2006 Energy Review Report announced a number of proposals for long-term reform of the RO. An initial consultation on these proposals was published in October 2006. This consultation was in two parts. The first part covered the changes in the Energy Review Report. The second part covered a number of technical and administrative changes which have now been introduced through the Renewables Obligation Amendment Order 2007.

A further consultation on long-term reform of the RO setting out the proposals in more detail was published on 23 May 2007 alongside the Energy White Paper - 'Meeting the Energy Challenge'.