Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is the term used to describe energy flows that occur naturally and repeatedly in the environment, e.g. from the sun, the wind and the oceans, and from plants and the fall of water.

Population growth, fossil fuel burning, and deforestation are all factors, which have contributed in recent years to altering the mixture of gases emitted into the Earth's atmosphere. The UK is responsible for the emission of 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions even though it only has 1% of the world's population. UK energy industries are the largest single contributors to UK greenhouse gas emissions, contributing over a third (54 million tonnes) of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in the UK. At the same time, the energy industry is relying on finite, diminishing and potentially insecure sources of fossil fuel such as coal, oil and gas. Currently around 80% of the UK's electricity supply comes from these sources, with an additional 15.6% being generated by the nuclear power sector.

Renewable energy is seen by the UK Government as vital to helping cut harmful CO2 emissions, as set out by the Climate Change Programme and subsequent Energy White Paper, which states that by 2010, renewable energy should be contributing 10% of the UK's electricity supply, and aim to double this by 2020, thus helping the country reach its ambitious target of UK carbon emission reductions.

In April 2002, the Government introduced the Renewables Obligation which calls on all licensed electricity suppliers in England & Wales to supply a specified and growing proportion of their electricity sales from a choice of eligible renewable sources, and provides financial incentives for them.

In November, 2003, Dorset County Council, with funding from the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to develop a renewable energy strategy for Dorset, addressing both electricity and heat. The Dorset Energy Group, (whose members are drawn from Dorset County Council, all of Dorset’s district councils including North Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth local authorities, and community sector representatives) steered the development of the strategy.

The production of this strategy which has been accepted by North Dorset District Council is a response to the current policy context, but also a response to the urgent need for Dorset to play its part in developing renewable energy sources in order to mitigate climate change. It is also a response to the economic opportunities for Dorset that could come from harnessing its renewable energy resources. The primary audience for this document is those key Dorset stakeholders and decision-makers who will play a role in helping to deliver the action plan. However, it is intended that the document will also act as a useful guide to other opinion formers and the Public.

The focus of the strategy is on the use of renewable energy for meeting the need for electricity and heat in Dorset, although the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport is also recognised. As part of a Climate Change mitigation strategy, the Dorset Energy Group is committed to developing both a renewable energy strategy and an energy efficiency strategy. In response to the funding opportunities available, the former has been prepared first. However, a key action of this strategy is that an energy efficiency strategy and action plan will also be developed.

A key milestone in developing the strategy was a one day consultation event held in Wareham, in April, 2004, which was attended by over 80 representatives of Dorset local authorities, community groups, and environmental organisations. This event gave stakeholders the opportunity to give their views on the vision, aims, barriers, opportunities and priority areas for action for the strategy, and they also fed into developing some actions for each priority area. In August, 2004, a draft version of the strategy and action plan was sent out to all key stakeholders for their comments. The feedback from the consultations has been collated and considered carefully, and has influenced the content of this strategy and action plan.

The Vision for this strategy is:

"for the community of Dorset to play our part in mitigating climate change by using energy more efficiently and harnessing our viable renewable energy resources. We wish to maximise the local economic, environmental and community benefits that doing this can bring."

The strategy has four aims, which are to:

• Maximise the potential for local economic benefit and diversification.
• Facilitate renewable energy development that is appropriate to Dorset’s environment and communities.
• Encourage a high degree of community involvement, understanding and benefit from using energy more efficiently and developing Dorset’s renewable energy resources.
• Enable Dorset to play its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with local, regional, national and international targets.

Bournemouth, Dorset & Poole Renewable Energy Strategy & Action Plan