Sheffield Renewables joined 90 other northern community groups in a call for the Budget to include measures to support renewable energy. The UK government should be celebrating clean energy as core to its economic plan.   See http://www.green-alliance.org.uk/clean_energy_declaration for the full statement and list of organisations that signed up, before it was sent to the Chancellor.

Here is the Green Alliance’s reaction to announcements that were later made in the Budget:-

“Osborne presented his Budget on 16 March, and it did provide some welcome clarity on the level of funding available for emerging renewable technologies, primarily offshore wind (£730m). But the future of mature renewable technologies (onshore wind and solar) remains unsettled, and decisions about the overall level and structure of support for renewables beyond 2020 have been pushed back.

These questions will most likely be resolved in the Autumn Statement in December. The delay is not ideal, in that it prolongs the period of uncertainty for potential investors. But the timing makes sense insofar as it ought to dovetail with the production of the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (formerly known as the Carbon Plan) following approval of the fifth carbon budget this summer.

Green Alliance’s reaction to the Budget from a renewables perspective is laid out in this blog. The line being taken is that it represents a Treasury attitude of “do as little as possible, as late as possible”. If you’re interested in the analysis of and recommendations for post-2020 renewables funding, see the latest report, Beyond subsidy (jargon alert!).”