What’s the plan?

Man makes plans and gods laugh – or, for those in the UK onshore wind community, Eric Pickles chuckles. Since the communities secretary awarded himself powers to call in applications for onshore windfarms last autumn, he has rejected 11 out of 13, and his example has been eagerly followed by local authorities across the UK, with planning approvals for onshore windfarms reversing from two out of three approved to two out of three rejected, as Utility Week’s Megan Darby reports (p12). Meanwhile, another two solar farms were chucked out of planning this week, a further blow for a sector already reeling from subsidy cuts, while fracking enjoys, for now at least, capricious political favour, as confirmed by the Queen’s Speech last week, setting a course for the Infrastructure Bill.

There is controversy enough over the subsidy regime, which favours certain technologies at the expense of others. This has effectively seen the government assume the role of determiner of the energy mix, which flies in the face of free market economics. Now it seems the planning system is similarly being used to favour and disfavour different technologies, a role for which it was neither designed nor intended.

While conspiracy theorists might be tempted to see a mastermind behind all this, the reality is probably far more muddle-headed. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is juggling competing priorities, dealing with its own coalition in-fighting and fielding calls from the Treasury; Pickles is playing to the Tory heartlands at a time of increasing political pressure. Unintended consequences abound – and the impact on investment, in particular, could see disfavoured technologies effectively ruled out of the future energy mix without so much as a single page of legislation.

•    South West Water hasn’t sounded the trumpet for its PR14 fast-track status. Chief executive Chris Loughlin allows us a glimpse of his pleasure and pride in this week’s exclusive interview (see p8) – but with characteristic self-effacement, insists there was “no special magic” to fulfilling Ofwat’s vision of an enhanced ­company. Those companies still waiting for their determinations may beg to differ – especially as, in Ofwat chief regulation officer Sonia Brown’s ­ominous words to analysts last month, “more significant ­interventions” lie ahead.