A Green Budget?
Alistair Darling’s budget on Wednesday 22nd April included money for renewables and green energy projects. The money will be used to unblock finance for projects that have either been delayed or mothballed from the onset of the credit crisis. Renewable projects were hard hit in 2008 with many high profile casualties. Hopefully this will trigger the start of a broader trend within energy circles to move further projects into play and provide the much anticipated increase in project and programme management. The challenge for organisations will be ensuring the business case makes sense especially when the economics are often shaky. Is the money announced enough or simply political window dressing? Duncan Hoggett is Head of Utilities Practice at Interim Partners.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:31 am
There are some promising glimmers of light in the new budget. If the government stops the painful blockage of offshore wind energy projects and works with developers to expedite planning permissions. If a well thought out strategy for development of a new wave of green manufacturing is set on course to encourage employment. At the moment, 80% of all solar thermal collectors are made in China, surely some of this can be transferred to the UK. In fact, the biggest impact will come from the £4bn of new loans that are being made available by the European Investment Bank.
There is too little allocated to real schemes that if planned properly could kickstart a green economic revolution. It also appears that the government is putting quite a bit into nuclear technologies, although no one wants the waste buried in their backyard.