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The UK must keep investing in community energy, which is the “sector of renewables that will weather the storm” of political uncertainty, former energy secretary Ed Davey has insisted.
Speaking at an investor conference, Davey, who is chairman of community energy firm Mongoose Energy, called for continued investment in renewable community energy resources “despite some fairly unwelcome announcements from the election”.
Since the election in May 2015, the government has ended energy efficiency schemes Green Deal and ECO and closed the Renewables Obligation to solar PV capacity at 5MW and below. At a committee of MPs last month, energy minister Lord Bourne said that a new ECO measure would be in place that is “centric to fuel-poverty”, but not until 2018.
“Community energy is not something some of my officials are very keen on,” Davey said, “but it was clear to me that given some of the plot problems we were having with planning for wind and solar farms, we needed to show there was support at grassroots level for these types of renewables.
“I think this country has to keep investing in renewable resources, despite moves from the Department of Energy and Climate change.”
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