Investors 'need reassurance' about renewable energy projects - 02/02/2011
Business energy users need more forward planning if they are to invest in renewable power, Friends of the Earth has posited.
According to Mike Childs, head of climate change at the campaign group, the government should do more to assure potential investors that its reforms of the energy market can deliver good returns.
"At the moment, the proposals don't look as though they will give sufficient confidence to investors in renewable energy to put the money into the technologies and into deployment," he argued.
There is "massive potential" for the UK's renewable energy schemes, such as offshore wind projects, "but investors will want to know not just what the government is planning to do by 2020 but [what] the longer term ambitions are for the government in terms of renewable energy".
If investors are wary, there is little cashflow and renewable energy plans are not put into action, Mr Childs added.
His comments come after Northern Ireland announced a target of 12 per cent of cheap electricity derived from renewable sources by 2012.
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