Julie Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on UK employment of (a) the early closure of renewables obligation and (b) the zero allocation into pot one of the contract for difference auction in 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The impact assessments for closing the renewables obligation early to 5MW-and-below solar and to onshore wind both included reference to the possible effect of these changes on employment. There will continue to be employment opportunities in relation to projects that qualify for grace periods, as well as in ongoing maintenance and management of existing sites; some jobs may also be redeployed to other sectors.

We are in the process of considering the concept of a market stabilising CFD for certain technologies – something which has been suggested by a number of stakeholders. We are listening to ideas from industry about how this can be achieved and how we can best ensure a level playing field between renewable and other generation technologies. We would welcome continued input from stakeholders.