The U.K. government plans to cut subsidies for land-based and offshore wind farms, while boosting aid for wave and tidal plants, under a program that compels electricity suppliers to get power from alternative energy.
Each megawatt-hour of electricity generated from onshore wind will be rewarded with 0.9 tradable certificates, down from 1, the Department for Energy and Climate Change said today on its website. Offshore wind was cut to 1.9 from 2, as wave and tidal stream were raised to 5 from 2.
The new levels of Renewables Obligation Certificates, or ROCs, will apply for projects built from April 2013, or April 2015 for offshore wind, and are aimed at ensuring the U.K. meets its European Union target of getting 15 percent of all energy for heat, power and transportation from renewable energy in 2020. The revised incentives will cut the cost of the program by as much as 1.3 billion pounds ($2 billion), the government said.