INTRODUCTION


The Renewable Energy Association is the UK’s largest renewable energy trade body, covering renewable power, heat, transport and organics recycling, representing nearly a thousand businesses.


This represents the real business needs of the renewables industry. The sector “asks” have come from the bottom up, with members ranging from the sole trader to multinationals all contributing. We have consulted with our individual technology groups, and far from settle on the lowest common denominator, we have thrashed out real, deliverable and honest asks that we believe will help move the UK to a cost-effective, secure and low carbon energy future.


In energy policy, there is no silver bullet, but all renewable technologies certainly have a part to play. From better utilising our sun, sea, wind and land, to ensuring we move away from our unsustainable throw away culture, creating a more circular and integrated economy.


Renewable energy is already a major business sector in the UK with clean energy one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The UK has seized the momentum in some areas, such as technology development for wave and tidal stream and securing investment in wind and solar power. We also have the world’s first Renewable Heat Incentive. Yet in some areas, the UK is actively u-turning, such as sustainable biofuels, onshore wind, biomass power, large scale solar and renewables in new homes. In other areas, such as geothermal, biogas, biomass heat, heat pumps and solar thermal, the UK has barely begun to scratch the surface of these technologies’ phenomenal potential.


This document examines the progress and policy asks across our core technology groupings of heat, transport and power. We also explore several themes that cut across multiple sectors, from waste and recycling to community energy, from finance to energy storage.


There are also cross-cutting issues that affect the whole industry. We have collaborated with our colleagues at other trade associations to produce these asks, which present a united industry voice on the biggest challenges facing the green energy economy.


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