Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2016 | Page 11

Opinion
“Solar will stand on its own two feet in 2016 as a vital part of the clean energy mix”
Simon Baggaley, Enphase Energy p23
Opportunities for UK low carbon
transport
Gordon Moran, writing for the European Energy Centre
(EEC), evaluates the prospects for low carbon transport in
the UK
A
s part of wider goals to help
reduce levels of pollution to
meet the UK’s emissions targets,
there have been moves in the UK
to reduce pollution caused by
transport.
Transport accounts for approximately 25
percent of total UK carbon emissions, with
road traffic causing the largest proportion.
To reduce emissions from road-based
transport, the UK government has provided
tax breaks to incentivise the use of electric
cars and developed appropriate refuelling
infrastructure to promote their use nationally.
The government offers ‘plug in grants’ of up
to £5000 for new electric cars. This scheme
has been very successful at encouraging
their uptake and will continue until at least
February 2016.
There have also been measures
introduced to increase the proportion of
transport fuels sourced from biomass to help
reduce emissions. Biofuel use has also been
promoted for buses in conjunction with the
use of biogas, sometimes from surprising
sources such as distilleries and breweries.
Another promising technology is
the development of the use of hydrogen
as a transport fuel, which looks set to
receive a great deal of attention and
investment, and has a range of potential
uses in road transport with hydrogen fuel
cells. The development of accompanying
infrastructure is also likely to encourage
investment and technological innovation
across the supply chain.
Low carbon transport innovation makes
sound sense in terms of reducing carbon
emissions, increasing energy efficiency,
and promoting technological innovation
and financial investment in the economy,
meaning the future looks bright across a
range of technologies for this area in the UK.
Talking point
Liz MacFarlane, Zenex Solar, hits out at the
unsettling effect of DECC’s unknown schedule for
implementing changes to the Feed-in Tariff
hope that by the time this edition
of REI hits your desks, we are
armed with information about
what PV support, if any, the
government has left to give.
One of the most appalling things about
this whole situation has been the lack of
clarity on timescale. I know many of you have
been forced to make difficult decisions, many
resulting in losses of profit and jobs, which
may or may not have been too premature.
We know that DECC is within its rights
to amend the Feed-in Tariff, but surely it
shouldn’t have dealt a card which meant
that the industry has been juggling stock,
human resource and finance based on one
I
timescale when actually in reality we may
have had weeks longer to take action. In the
meantime, people have been forced to make
rash and costly decisions based on nothing but
conjecture.
Much of the industry has been making
worst-case scenario plans; others, simply
waiting for the announcement before deciding
on a next move. Everyone seems to be toying
with the idea of diversification.
We are very lucky that as part of the
Segen group, we have a flexible business
model which has traded successfully since
long-before the FiT. We have plans in place
which will help sustain that so we are here
long in to the future to continue to support
you. Watch out for training courses in the New
Year to help diversification and to ensure that
we are ready for whatever is thrown at us.
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