RenewableUK says UK’s 2020 goal depends on onshore wind

May 29, 2014 - The UK needs to install more onshore wind farms if it wants to meet its goal of sourcing from renewables 15% of its total power by 2020, trade body RenewableUK said yesterday.

The addition of more onshore wind power capacity is needed to compensate a possible shortfall in other power sources. The organisation explained that its warning was triggered by a statement in The Times by Lord Deben, chairman of the committee on climate change, that the country already has enough onshore wind.

According to RenewableUK, the UK might lose over 450 MW of onshore wind capacity as not all approved projects will enter construction. About 10% of the permitted schemes are projected to be cancelled due to financial and other issues.

A recent report by the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed that the UK is slightly below interim targets. In order to accomplish the 15% goal, the share of renewables in the country’s power mix has to be 5.4% in 2013/14, 7.5% in 2015/16 and 10.2% in 2017-2018. The UK was put on the list of countries, together with Malta, France and the Netherlands, which were urged to make “additional efforts” to return back to schedule.

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