Utility Week

8 | 13TH - 19TH MARCH 2020 | UTILITY WEEK News and also particularly in England – less in Wales, and much less so in Scotland – we've got the national planning guidance which creates a signi cant barrier to the sector," said Clayton. While he welcomed the return of nan- cial support for onshore wind and solar, Clayton warned that "until local authorities put together neighbourhood plans, then still there's e• ectively a block on new developments in England". He added: "The local authorities should roll up their sleeves, in the context of many of them announcing climate change emer- gencies and declaring their net zero ambi- tions, and designate areas where renewables should be built so that then developers can focus their attention on those areas." He said the number of councils which have already done this is "very limited". Planning guidance Alternatively, Clayton said the government's planning guidance needs to change to "introduce a more dynamic relationship between the local authority, the community and the developer to make sure that sites are developed in a responsible way". "There should be a positive driver within the planning system, not the negative one that exists at the moment," he added. In unveiling the plans, BEIS said it would update the existing guidance for developers on community bene ts to re† ect best prac- tice from across the industry. It said devel- opers should be encouraged to provide opportunities for local communities to invest in projects and that any commitments should be honoured for the full lifetime, regardless of any changes in ownership. Clayton welcomed the consultation's emphasis on community support, saying: "We're really pleased to see the importance that's being put on both community involve- ment and the opportunity for communities to invest." He said consideration also needs to be given to those who cannot a• ord to invest, suggesting that low-carbon power could be supplied to local authorities to help them save money as a form of community bene t: continued from previous page Inside story "The ownership opportunity is we think important and it really engages with a wide group of people. But ultimately, investment is a luxury which isn't available to everyone so being able to demonstrate the bene t to everyone is a really positive thing." Strike prices may rise The issue of whether stopping low-carbon generators from collecting CfD top-up pay- ments during periods of negative power prices could add a new risk to the agree- ments and put upward pressure on strike prices, was raised by Martin Anderson, head of GB renewables at Aurora Energy Research. He told Utility Week the risk was likely to be limited as the expiry of earlier subsi- dies would reduce the likelihood of negative prices occurring. BEIS has proposed to end generators' eligibility to receive top-up payments during periods of negative power prices. They are currently able to collect the payments so long as the period lasts for no longer than six hours, although they are capped at the value of the strike price. The consultation said generators should not be encouraged to "generate in ways that are unhelpful to the overall system" and that the proposal would seek to "strengthen the incentives for generators to be responsive and † exible", for example by utilising storage. "It adds a bit of risk to the projects because it means you're exposed to many more of those negative prices," said Ander- son. "You're probably going to be having to curtail a bit more. "It's not going to be a case of the previ- ous round of 'just produce as much as you can and you'll get paid'. Now you're going to have to take a view on how much curtail- ment you're expecting." He said developers would factor this risk into their strike price bids, creating "a bit of upward pressure". Subsidy expiry However, the expiry of earlier subsidies will remove the incentive of other generators to continue producing power when prices fall below zero: "If you think about onshore wind, which have got ROCs [Renewables Obligation Certi cates] – some of those are very old and they're going to be expiring from their ROCs in the late 2020s. "That's when a lot of these CfD projects would be coming online anyway. Because of that, we never saw negative prices getting too severe anyway." BEIS's own analysis suggests the day- ahead market would see negative prices during 1 in every 100 hours during 2030 if o• - shore wind capacity reached 30GW as agreed last year as part of the sector deal. They would cover two periods in which negative prices persisted for more than six hours. If o• shore wind capacity reached 40GW, as pledged in the Conservatives' election manifesto, then periods with negative prices would account for 4.5 in every 100 hours and there would be 13 occasions on which they would last for more than six hours. Curtailment payments to wind generators reached a monthly high in January aœ er out- ages on the new 2.2GW Western Link power line between Scotland and North Wales coincided with record wind output across Great Britain. According to Cornwall Insight, the electricity system operator spent almost £31¡million to curtail 430GWh of generation. Tom Grimwood, energy correspondent, Utility Week Curtailment payments to wind generators reached a new monthly high in January after outages on the new 2.2GW Western Link power line between Scotland and North Wales coincided with record wind output across Great Britain "Ending our contribution to climate change means making the UK a world leader in renewable energy. We are determined to do that in a way that works for everyone, listening to local communities and giving them an effective voice in decisions that affect them." ALOK SHARMA, BUSINESS SECRETARY save money as a form of community bene t: "Ending our contribution to climate change means making the UK a world leader in renewable energy. We are determined to do that in a way that works for everyone, listening to local communities and giving them an effective voice in decisions that affect them."

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