Energy White Paper (UK)

I Blog posted this morning re the UK ETS. Publication of the UK ETS (which was already provided for in Law) is contained in the Energy White Paper (published today).

The Energy White Paper (CP 337) “Powering our Net Zero Future” is here.

It is a long document (170 pages) with many promises for consultations and targets.

A few I have singled out –

(1) significant strengthening of the Energy Performance Certificates system with an EPC target of C for domestic buildings by 2035 (and B for rented non-domestic buildings by 2030). Since most domestic properties are D or below, this is huge and will necessitate new law. Involvement of mortgage lenders is also being consulted on.

(2) re the UK ETS no further detail is given (other than is set out in my blog post this morning)

(3) an Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy to be published in Spring 2021

(4) targeting 40GW offshore wind by 2030, including 1GW floating wind, plus growing the installation of electric heat pumps from 30,000 per year to 600,000 per year by 2028

(5) commitment to make the UK continental shelf a net zero basin by 2050. This will necessitate a new legal approach

(6) commitment to join the UK to the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’

(7) a new strategy for the Oil & Gas Authority by end of 2020

(8) review of the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning

Planning Policy Guidance (Wind Farms) (England & Wales)

Written Ministerial Statement 9th April 2014:

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles): This coalition Government have reformed the planning process so that communities themselves have the opportunity to influence the decisions that affect their lives. We have abolished regional strategies, and their top-down renewable energy targets, and are encouraging local councils to work with their communities to set out in their local plan where developments for renewable energy should and should not take place. We have also been very clear that the views of local communities should be listened to.

We have published planning guidance to help ensure planning decisions on green energy get the environmental balance right in line with the national planning policy framework. The guidance is designed to assist local councils in their consideration of local plans and individual planning applications. In publishing the guidance, we have been quite clear that the need for renewable energy does not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities. We have also introduced a new requirement for compulsory pre-application consultation with local communities for more significant onshore wind applications—that is, of more than two turbines or where the hub height of any turbine exceeds 15 metres. This requirement took effect in December.

PP Guidance is here.

The compulsory pre-application consultation legal obligation is in Article 3A of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010.

Subscribers to the paid-for Cardinal Tailored EHS Legislation Registers have the consolidated TCP (DMP) Order included as standard in the Land Management Register.

The PP Guidance on Appeals is also updated.

Windfarm Settlement (US)

Duke Energy agreed in November to pay $1 million in fines as part of the federal Justice Department’s first criminal case against a wind power company for the deaths of protected birds.

The report in the New York Times identifies it is Duke Energy’s subsidiary, Duke Energy Renewables, that has pleaded guilty in the Federal District Court in Wyoming to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The company was charged with killing 14 golden eagles and dozens of other birds at two wind projects in Wyoming since 2009.

Per the New York Times – in the plea agreement, the company said it would pay the fines to several conservation groups, including the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It also must put in place a plan to prevent bird deaths in future.

“In this plea agreement, Duke Energy Renewables acknowledges that it constructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand would likely result in avian deaths,” Robert G. Dreher, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division, said in a statement.

Windfarms (UK)

Judicial Review is upheld in relation to a decision of the Scottish Ministers dated 4 April 2012 to grant consent for the construction and operation of a 103 turbine Viking Wind Farm in Central Mainland, Shetland.

This lengthy Opinion is the first time a petition for Judicial Review of a decision to grant planning permission for a wind farm development has been successful.

The Opinion (ruling) identifies that the decision by the Scottish Government Ministers to grant planning permission was unlawful:
(a) the Scottish Ministers had failed to follow the EU Wild Birds Directive (as respects a rare bird, the whimbrel),
(b) the applicant (for planning permission) did not have a licence to generate electricity.

Here is a short guide to Judicial Review in Scotland.

Here is the Shetland Times news article on the ruling.