At least another day to wait

Rumours are flying round thick and fast, but it now looks like the banding consultation will be announced tomorrow with Chris Huhne appearing before Parliament at 10:30am.

It looks increasing possible that there will be a cut in RO banding for onshore wind, something which has been occasionally rumoured over the past couple of months. The Times* has run an article today by Robert Lea with the following quote:

"There was growing speculation last night that the government is on the verge of cutting multibillion-pound financial incentives to build wind farms.

"Such a move, which could come as early as tomorrow, would have a profound effect on the British wind industry, which has stated its intention to become a world leader in renewable energy".

Actually we suspect the impact would be rather greater on the European turbine manufacturers, but no doubt if a cut does come, intermediate quality wind projects will suffer for a few years.

So far no mention of a cut for biomass (fingers crossed), but we are also hearing rumours that tomorrow will also bring an announcement on Carbon Capture and Storage, possibly a rather negative one.


* Sorry we can't give you a link but The Times online edition sits fully behind a paywall, you can sign up here: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/