BWEA, UK’s leading renewable energy trade association, welcomed Chancellor Alistair Darling’s commitment in this afternoon’s pre-budget speech to extend the Renewables Obligation (RO) to at least 2037. BWEA believes the move will increase investor confidence, particularly in Round 3 offshore projects, and ensure long term stability for developers and wind farm operators.

Maria McCaffery, BWEA Chief Executive said: “BWEA has been for some time now asking the Government to reiterate its commitment to the Renewables Obligation beyond 2027. If we have Round 3 projects coming on line from 2015, under the previous regime they would have been covered by the RO for only the first half of their projected life cycle. This extension to the RO will bring long term stability and encourage developers to continue with the building programme.”

The Renewables Obligation is a financial incentive mechanism designed to encourage deployment of renewable energy capacity in the UK, introduced in 2002. Since then the RO was instrumental in bringing over 19GW of wind energy capacity into the UK planning system offshore and onshore.