(DECC) Government is backing renewable energy - O'Brien

In a speech to the Renewable Energy Association in London this morning, Mike O'Brien said:

"No sector is immune from the economic downturn and that includes the energy sector. To meet our commitments on renewables, we have changed the planning laws and increased support for the sector. We also are working with National Grid and Ofgem to ensure sufficient access to the grid and we very much welcome the announcement last week about the timetable for an extra 450MW of grid connection.

"However, we are fully aware of the investment challenges facing some parts of the industry. As part of the work we are doing across government on the low carbon industrial strategy, we are looking at the impact of the downturn and what we can do to alleviate it. To that end, we are examining how we can help ensure there is sufficient finance and other support available for viable projects which are short of the investment they need.

"We are determined to meet the targets for 2020 that we have set out and having passed Denmark as the leading country for offshore wind, and trebled renewables in the last five years, we believe that with the right decisions, we can see the continued growth in the renewables sector that we need."