Energy plan - Price curbs an obstacle to success

THE Government has put the sixth Alternative Energy Requirement (AER6) in place in the expectation that it will be successful, but also in the knowledge that the previous scheme was a total failure.

An AER, and there have been five previous ones, is a scheme whereby contracts are awarded, at fixed prices, to renewable energy firms to produce energy from green sources, such as wind and wave power.

By and large, AERs have not delivered in terms of the power supply expected of them because they have not proved viable for the firms operating them, due to the price restraints imposed on them by the Government.