By Joe Chambers, Renewables Development Manager at Peel NRE
Peel Cubico Renewables launched in April 2021 as a strategic joint venture between Peel NRE and Cubico Sustainable Investments, with ambitions to develop a significant portfolio of onshore wind and solar projects in the UK.
Over the last nine months, the partnership has made great progress and is actively working on several opportunities across the UK, with new team members strengthening our ability to progress the various stages of development.
The timing for our renewed efforts on renewables could not be better: COP26 last year focussed the world’s attention on reducing emissions and the ongoing energy cost crisis shows that we need greater investment in low carbon indigenous electricity generation.
There is however, one big piece of the jigsaw missing: onshore wind in England. The Government’s planning reforms in 2015 effectively put significant barriers in place for new projects in England, and since then the growth in capacity has collapsed. Only eight onshore wind farm applications for new or extended sites were submitted in England between 2016 and 2020. In comparison, 237 applications were submitted between 2011 and 2015 – a 96% decrease. [1]
In 2019 a YouGov poll [2] revealed that 76% of the population was in favour of onshore wind, with nearly 60% of the population wanting to see an increase in deployment. Despite these favourable figures, the barriers to permitting new wind farms in England remain.
We’re joining other leading voices across the industry to say that this needs to be addressed. Sensitively developed onshore wind projects can provide low cost, zero carbon energy and can positively transform the communities through the associated benefits they can provide. Recent analysis by Carbon Brief suggests that energy bills in the UK would be around £1.4bn cheaper this summer if the effective ban on development in England had not come into play [3], and that’s not to mention further economic benefits as we come out of the pandemic in search of a green recovery.
We’re very pleased to see this issue being discussed at the very highest levels now, with the recent Onshore Wind Bill being sponsored by Baroness Hayman [4]. With business, councils, Governments and individuals uniting in a concerted effort to reach net zero the need has never been greater!
We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress and are excited to share some further information on our projects in due course so watch this space.
In the meantime, please take a look at our new website to learn more about what we do.
We’re always looking for land and partnership opportunities too so please get in touch via the Contact Us section of this website if you’d like to work with us.
[1] Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[2] Shale gas is even less popular in UK than coal | YouGov
[3] Analysis: Cutting the ‘green crap’ has added £2.5bn to UK energy bills – Carbon Brief
[4] Onshore Wind Bill [HL] – House of Lords Library (parliament.uk)