Is the UK being left behind in the Cleantech race?

Britain has stated, and repeatedly so, that it will lead the way in developing clean technology. Our Government has promised to “lead the world” on its spending path out of economic slump – but it is failing.

One of the most comprehensive studies of green stimuli been introduced across the globe puts Britain near the bottom of the international trade league. China, for example, has devoted well over a hundred times as much money to recession-beating environmental measures, despite being castigated as an international laggard in tackling pollution.

This sort of information will embarrass Gordon Brown, who has said the UK will spark “a low carbon economy.” And it contradicts his repeated insistence that green measures are "imperative" as a "key driver" of future economic growth. He returned to the theme a couple of days ago in his speech to the Labour Party's National Policy Forum. And a policy document published to complement his address calls for Britain "to lead the world in building the low carbon society with a low carbon economy".

The report (published by HSBC) reveals that Britain has, so far, devoted only $2.1bn (£1.5bn) to a green stimulus, less than a third of France's $7.2bn and less than a sixth of Germany's $13.8bn. China's spending, at $221.3bn, is more than 110 times that of the UK.

This makes no mention of the sudden appearance of the US on the clean tech spending scene. The Administration’s plan of spending $83 billion (out of $787 billion) on clean technology is phenomenal for a country that also only just admitted there is a climate change issue.

My concern is the UK government is all talk and no trousers when it comes to clean technology. We are in danger of being rapidly overtaken by other nations, which in 20 – 30 years time may mean that to implement clean technology we have to import the technology.

Let’s get to the front of this space and become the technology exporter for a change!

Other Articles that may interest you:
America is open for Green Business - next stop Carbon Valley - ghgblog.com
Government timetable slip means fossil fuels will trump renewable energy, says CLA - FarmingUK.com
UK needs to invest billions to secure power-study - iii.co.uk

By Steven Rogers
Sector Lead for Carbon & Renewable Energy Engineering

Are the winds of fortune blowing in the direction of China?

With more and more frequency I hear about China when I’m on the internet catching up on news and development in the global Wind Energy market, or talking to professionals in the market place. Just this week I read about Gamesa winning an order for 347 turbines which will create an installed capacity of 295MW for a Chinese Wind farm owned by a major Chinese Electricity provider. Suzlon has also won 200MW+ orders from Chinese companies.

Photo by Clemson

ResearchInChina, a portal for business intelligence in China has released a new report: China Wind Power Industry Report, 2008. For details of this please see ResearchInChina’s report. In the report they say that at the end of 2007 China was one of the top five regions in terms of installed capacity, and they are continuing to invest and install more and more, on an ambitious race to become the global leader. China more than doubled its wind power capacity in 2008, installing 4.66GW of additional capacity and passing the government’s 10GW target two years ahead of schedule. (from Renewable Energy Information)

However, there’s something else bubbling on my radar. As I’ve talked to people about the Chinese market I’ve heard of a few doubts and concerns about the way the Chinese are going “guns blazing” into this market. Their installed MWs are impressive, but what about the MWhs (mega-watt hours)? Are they focused on building effective, efficient and reliable wind farms? Are the MWs being installed in an integral and profitable manner?

BP moved out of the Chinese market despite joint ventures being formed and deals done for about 150MW of wind capacity (but then they’ve left the UK too). I have heard further rumours that another global wind developer has decided not to pursue any further with their Chinese due diligence.

Is wind energy in China a political game (remember that the Chinese government had to order the closure of polluting factories during the Olympics because the smog over there is so bad) rather than a genuine desire to generate “clean” electricity? I tried to do a bit of background research on this to back up the rumours I’m hearing, but actually I’m not seeing a lot of hard evidence out there one way or the other.

Food for thought and an interesting space to watch. I’d be interested to hear your views and ideas on this.

By Clare Buxton
Wind Energy Sector Lead