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“Decc is looking at a subsidy-free contract for difference”
The government has made its agenda clear since it came into power last May. Subsidies for renewable technologies should be on the downward curve and removed as soon as they can compete financially with more established generation sources.
Solar, wind and biomass have been at the forefront of Tory eagerness to be subsidy thrifty.
At Decc questions last week, the SNP’s Brendan O’Hara called on energy minister Andrea Leadsom to restore investor confidence in the onshore renewable sector, which was badly shaken following the previous swathe of cuts since the Tory election win.
Leadsom hit back: “It is not something that we would introduce just on the back of a fag packet.”
The government, despite dissenting voices on the backbenches, is committed to moving to a lower carbon economy, and that includes a greater penetration of renewable generation – including onshore wind.
The energy minister told the Commons that a subsidy-free contract for difference (CfD) is something Decc is looking at, but “a subsidy-free CfD is not cost-free or risk-free to the bill consumer, and we are absolutely determined to ensure that we keep the costs down for consumers”. She added that the fact the industry is looking at and seeking subsidy-free CfDs “suggests that our analysis that this industry can stand on its own two feet was correct”.
With Leadsom stating her department is listening to the industry on how a “market-stabilising CfD” can be delivered, there is still a green glimmer in the corridors of power.
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