UK likely to miss 2020 renewables target

The National Grid has published the latest Future Energy Scenarios report. It claims that the UK is on track to miss its target of 15% of energy being sourced from renewables by 2020.

The report comes shortly after the British Government agreed to keep to requirements of the fifth carbon budget. The budget includes optimistic emission reduction targets for the period 2028-2032. This is in order to achieve the ultimate target of 80% reduction by 2050 based on 1990 levels.

In addition the UK is bound by the targets set by the EU. The EU Renewables Energy Directive requires the EU as a whole to provide 20% of all its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Each individual country has its own contribution; the UK’s is 15% by 2020.

National Grid have captured various scenarios regarding the UK’s use of renewable technology into the future. The only one of these scenarios that will, by their estimate, see the 2050 target met is what they call the ‘Gone Green’ scenario. However, the Future Energy Scenarios (FES) 2016 report now shows that even under this scenario, the UK’s 2020 renewable targets, as set by the RED, will not be met by 2022 at the earliest.

The report says: “Gone Green will not be forced to meet the 2020 Renewable Energy Directive target of 15 percent of UK energy consumption coming from renewable sources. This reflects that although significant progress has been made towards the target, with 2020 only four years away it is very challenging to meet. Further analysis will be undertaken through the FES 2016 cycle and we will identify what needs to happen to reach the 15 percent target.” A spokesperson for National Grid said: “The 2050 targets are still achievable, but we need much more momentum. The government has to change the trajectory or we are going to fail. We need to learn our lessons from where things have gone wrong so far.”