| Thank you for that kind welcome
Antoni. I’m delighted that the UK is hosting this conference for the
second time – just another sign of our commitment to renewable energy.
We in the British Government mean business about
providing the clean, green energy our planet desperately needs. As we said
in our Energy White Paper last year, we want cleaner, greener energy as
part of our commitment to delivering secure, sustainable and affordable
energy for our people.
Just think of the amount of energy we use – just
this morning for example, my alarm clock went off, I switched on my
bedside lamp, used my hairdryer, listened to the radio to note the latest
price of oil – all utterly dependent on energy.
We take energy for granted. I do it. You do it. We
all do it.
But we can’t go on doing it.
Not if we're going to prevent triggering the
irreversible melting of the Greenland ice-cap by the middle of the
century.
Not if we’re going to prevent the world’s poorest
countries suffering most from the severe weather, longer droughts and
rising oceans that threaten some of their very existence.
Not if we’re going to avoid heatwaves worse than
last year’s, a heatwave which cost 26,000 lives and cost US$13.5billion
across Europe.
Climate change is here.
Perhaps even more importantly in the UK, where we
are used to being an exporter of energy, we are rapidly becoming an
importer of energy.
Our industry and consumers need secure and diverse
energy supplies at competitive prices. That’s why we value diversity in
energy generation. Not just gas, not just wind, not just any single source
of energy. But different kinds of energy and different supply networks.
That’s why we’re working with our European
partners to liberalise energy markets - the best guarantee of securing
supplies for the future.
That’s why we are working to transform our
investment in energy efficiency in homes, offices and factories around the
UK – because we are well behind where we should be, wasting far more
energy than we should.
That’s why we’re encouraging consumers in Britain,
one of the most competitive energy markets in the world, to make the
market work for them by switching suppliers to get the best deal.
That’s why later today, energy minister Mike
O’Brien and I are bringing together Government, the industry, Energywatch
and Ofgem to promote the competitive market, to enable more people to
switch suppliers and save money and to push energy efficiency.
And to create closer coordination between
business, government and the voluntary and care sectors, almost always the
first point of contact for fuel poor and other vulnerable customers.
Because of these commitments to diversity,
security and competitive markets, we are particularly committed to
renewable energy which can help us meet all of these goals.
When we were writing the Energy White Paper, we
were inspired by the example of many countries in Europe.
In Denmark, where one fifth of your electricity is
powered by wind.
In Germany and Spain, where one fifth of your
households are powered by wind.
We are starting from a long way back but we are
starting to catch up - more than 400,000 homes powered by onshore wind.
Soon another 90,000 powered by offshore wind. And another 400 homes by the
waves off Orkney thanks to Ocean Power Delivery. A small start – but a
wonderful example of things to come.
Because we’re not content to stop here.
Our Renewables Obligation that we put in place and
recently extended and that supports this new market in renewables,
together with the exemption from the Climate Change Levy, add up to
£1billion of support to the industry by 2010.
Since 2002 we’ve been ploughing in another half a
billion pounds for emerging technologies.
We’ve launched the Renewable Energy and Energy
Efficiency Partnership – REEP - to bring together governments, business
and civil society to break down the global barriers to market penetration
of renewables and energy efficiency.
All of us are familiar with the green slogan,
`think global, act local’. So in particular what we are trying to do is
capture the imagination of individuals and investors around our country so
they play their part as well.
Like Middlestone Moor and Catchgate Primary in
Durham. Two schools harvesting rainwater to flush their toilets –
something that brings these kids into a practical understanding of climate
change and what each of us can do about it. And they are also generating
their own energy with a 20KW wind turbine and a solar photovoltaic system.
Like Baywind windfarm in the North West, where
nearly half of the investment came from local people.
Like British Telecom sourcing its own energy from
renewables. Living proof that choosing clean, green energy doesn’t have to
come at the cost of economic growth.
We are seeing more investors backing renewables
because they can see the Government means business and is committed to the
development of this market in the long-term.
They know our Renewables Obligation is in place
for another 23 years.
They know we’re reviewing it purely to make sure
it’s doing its job.
They are seeing more projects getting approved.
But let me also emphasise today that we also mean
business about enforcing proper planning process.
I know that too many projects, not just in
renewables, have been held up in the past because of long cumbersome
delays in planning.
We have reformed the system. Our planning
procedures are robust. They are impartial. And they are followed.
Our planning procedures make sure the voices of
local people and others are heard. Make sure their views are considered
alongside national energy needs and policies. And make sure that if a
windfarm’s in the wrong place, it won’t get built.
As we make the system more transparent, fewer
people will waste their time putting in applications that are not likely
to get approved.
I respect those who exercise their right to
object. All I ask is that objections are based on accurate information.
I hope we can see an end to the myths that are
peddled in the name of debate.
One of the most common is that wind is hopelessly
unreliable because it is intermittent. The reality is that all sources of
energy trip off the system at times - we have two nuclear stations at the
moment which are out of commission. Wind is no different. Achieving our
2010 target requires little additional back-up or cost.
We cannot simply abandon onshore windfarms, where
protests are likely to be greatest, for offshore. Abandon onshore, and we
will not reach our 2010 targets.
And last year a major survey of British public
opinion showed that people living near a wind farm were more in favour of
renewable energy than those who didn’t - indicating many fears are
unfounded.
There may be impacts on birdlife, navigation and
fishing, but they are all seriously taken into account in the planning
process. And when we looked at offshore potential we were particularly
careful to take into account impacts on birdlife.
And we have studied allegations about noise and
health. While the available evidence simply does not support the claims,
nonetheless, to be absolutely careful about this, we have commissioned an
independent follow-up study.
Across Europe we need to do more to reinforce and
upgrade our transmission and distribution network, partly to take account
of the development of renewables, partly to ensure we have that open,
competitive market in Europe. But these issues are not insurmountable.
Later this year the first major upgrade in Scotland will seek consent from
the Scottish Executive.
So we have many issues to face, but let’s not lose
sight of the bigger picture.
We know our people believe in renewable energy.
They are asking us, politicians and Government, to deliver cleaner,
greener energy.
But we cannot have people claiming to support
renewable energy and then refusing to support the decisions and investment
required to achieve those goals.
Climate change is here and here to stay. Many of
the solutions are here too.
Back one turbine, and you back supplying more than
1,000 homes every year with clean, green renewable energy.
Those elements of our green movement who object to
renewable energy need to realise what they are doing to the goals that
they themselves share.
By 2010, UK wind will power one in six households.
We’ll be using our Chairmanship of the G8 next
year to promote action on climate change - building a consensus on the
urgency of the problem and the science underpinning it, driving
developments in cleaner energy technologies and engaging countries outside
the G8 on meeting their growing energy sustainably.
Because we mean business about investing in the
future, not the past.
Because we know we have to make tough decisions
now in order to protect the environment in which we and our children live,
we mean business about harnessing technology for tomorrow.
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